Dragon wings
by Susfi
Summary: What does it take to change a man? For Hyoudou Issei, this generation Sekiryuutei and Rias Gremory's Pawn, it was one meeting, one nightmare and one deal with an ancient dragon living inside his soul which effects were beyond his expectations. How will this change affect his journey? One thing for sure, he still will become the Harem King, nothing will take his dream away.
1. Nightmare

A/N: Hello everyone! Before we start with the story just a few things from me:

I know my English isn't perfect, but I hope you still will find story enjoyable. If you find some major mistakes or something doesn't make sense let me know.

I don't have the whole story planned, more like I have ideas about different scenes and the glimpse on where I want to go with it and I'm just gonna try to put it all together. If you have the idea of something to add, change etc. let me know.

I plan on staying in pure DxD universe, no imports from different anime/manga/LN but… I have one OC and OOC planned. Much later. And I don't know if I am able to write others characters properly…

With that said: on with the show!

Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the High School DxD anime/manga/LN

"Taking"

'Thinking or Issei talking with Ddraig'

 **Ddraig 'thinking or talking with Issei' "talking aloud"**

* * *

(first two parts are in the first person, but it didn't work for me so the rest is in 3rd person past tense, maybe I'll rewrite it at some point)

-Issei's pov-

After school, I, Asia and Kiba, whom we met on our way, came to the club room. I open the door without any concerns not caring for a troubled look on Kiba's face.

Inside the room are Buchou, Akeno-san, Koneko-chan, and—. The silver-haired maid Grayfia-san! She sure does act calm.

Buchou has a very unpleasant face. Akeno-san is smiling like usual, but she has a cold vibe.

Koneko-chan is sitting on a chair in the corner quietly. It seems like she doesn't want to get involved with others much as possible.

The room has a tense atmosphere where no one is talking.

Asia is also feeling uneasy so she holds onto my sleeve with an uneasy face. I pat on her head to comfort her and to make her feel safe.

Buchou speaks after looking at each of us.

"Looks like everyone is here. Before we start the club, there's something I need to tell all of you."

"Ojou-sama, do you want me to explain the situation?"

Buchou rejects Grayfia-san's offer by waving her hand.

"The truth is—"

It happens exactly when Buchou speaks. The magic circle on the floor glows.

The symbol of the Gremory drawn on the magic-circle changes into an unfamiliar pattern.

—! What is this!? Isn't this the Gremory's magic-circle?

"—Dragan"

That's what Kiba who is close to me says. Dragan? T-Then it isn't a Gremory!

The light shines through the room and a person appears from the magic-circle.

FLAME!

Flames come out from the magic-circle, and the room gets flowed with heat. Hot! Sparks are burning my skin.

There is a silhouette of a man inside the flames. When he swings his arm across to the side, the flames disappear.

"Fuu, it's been a while since I came to the human's world."

The one standing there is a man with brown hair wearing a red jacket with golden spikes on shoulders and black shirt opened till his chest. He has a necklace with some sort of fang laying on his bare skin undershirt but still visible. He wears black pants with an image of a white eastern dragon around his leg and matching black boots. He looks like he's in his early 20's.

The guy looks around the room and then smirks after finding Buchou.

"My lovely Rias. I came to see you."

Buchou is looking at him with her eyes half closed. It doesn't seem like she is welcoming this guy. But the guy doesn't seem to care and approaches Buchou.

"Now then, Rias. Let's go and take a look at the ceremony hall. The date of the ceremony is decided so we need to check it before then."

What a frivolous guy… From which household is this Devil from? Kiba said Dragan earlier…

The guy grabs Buchou's arm. W-What a rude guy!

"…Let go of me, Issei! I told you before, I will not marry you!"

* * *

I woke up heavily breathing and sweating and almost jump out of the bed. After a brief look around the room, my brain connected back to reality and I realize something:

"It was a nightmare, just a bad dream…" I whisper to myself trying to calm down "Yeah, that it was… I'm nothing like Riser."

I laid back down on my bed but my thoughts kept going back to that awful dream. As more I thought about it I was less and less able to deny similarities I saw between us but there were still big differences.

'Yeah, I'm nothing like Riser. He is a powerful high-class devil who has harem while I? I am just weak low-class teenager with delusional dream… No, I am not Riser I am just pathetic excuse of him…. No! I refuse to accept it, he is an asshole who treat women like objects, toys and I… I…' memories of my behavior came to me: ogling women, peeping on kendo club, talking about their looks and sizes, screaming about my dream to become Harem King 'I am not better than him… I am same or worse in every possible way. I'm weak lecherous teenager… I'm just pathetic...'

 **'That you are partner'** said a deep voice which I didn't recognize

"What, who is that?" I said looking around room to find no one present

 **'I am a Heavenly Dragon, the Red Dragon Emperor, although I guess since we are going to be together for at least a bit longer I can tell you that my name is Ddraig. I am spirit inside your Sacred Gear, nice to meet you, partner'**

"Uhhh, nice to meet you too? But where are you? I can hear you, but I can't see you"

 **'*sigh* What part of spirit inside Sacred Gear you didn't understand? I live inside your soul, or more technically inside your left hand'** sighed dragon but it was more like hurricane than sigh to me

'Ohhh, so I was talking aloud to no one. Can you show yourself or something, it feels weird talking to you but not seeing you?'

 **'Sure, I was going to show myself in your dream anyway but you woke up before I got the chance, thankfully connection was strong enough to contact you now. Just close your eyes.'**

I did what I was told being skeptical how closing my eyes will help me see something but as soon as I did I saw inferno of dark red flames and a figure rose from the flames until a large red Western Dragon with red eyes and golden spikes through his body was revealed.

'Wow… I just, wow…' sound of dragon chuckling snap me back to reality

 **'Hmm, you are a devil? That's the first time my host is one of this Evil Pieces, I wonder how it will affect your growth…'**

'Yes, I am a devil, a Pawn more specific. Umm Ddraig? When you agreed I'm pathetic… you really meant it? I am that bad?'

 **'You are my weakest host in history and it says much as one of my previous host couldn't walk. While you are devil there were humans I met stronger than you, so yeah. You are pathetic. But don't worry, even as my weakest host you have potential to become force whole world needs to reckon with'** said dragon sounding rather smug.

'But not in ten, no, nine days left to Rating Game against this burned yakitori, right?' After awakening spirit inside Boosted Gear I got a boost to my morale, pun intended, but after Ddraig words? Not so much happy mood anymore.

 **'...'**

'I'll take that silence as a yes' I started to get depressed.…

 **'It is simply impossible to get stronger in such short time by training alone. Maybe if you were training under powerful dragon for two weeks you would come close to level required to beat phenex so-called immortality but nine days of regular training won't do the job'**

'So we are going to lose and buchou is going to marry that asshole and there is nothing I can do to change that. Is that what are you telling me? Damn, there has to be something I can do, I refuse to give up. Ddraig, please, tell me there is something magic you can do to help… please…' I was almost crying, I felt hopeless and even more pathetic than before. But my answer was just silence

'Ddraig?'

 **'Yeah, I'm here. There is one thing to make you stronger in such short time, but it comes with a sacrifice that may ch…'**

'YES! I'll do it, just tell me what to do' I shouted inside my mind

 **'Very well, you can sacrifice part of your body to me. I will change it to dragon equivalent in exchange for power. It will obviously make you more dragon than you already are but once it's done, you cannot go reverse it and change it back to human, or devil for that matter.'**

'Oh… Sacrifice my bodyyyy… Wait for a second, more dragon than I am? Am I dragon?!' I shouted inside my mind again after I fully processed Ddraig words

 **'Part dragon, very small part. It comes from possessing Boosted Gear, it makes you vulnerable to dragon-slaying weapons but more resistant to magic. And it would make you stronger and faster than other humans IF you would train your body'**

'Geez, I'm weak I get it, no need to say it over and over again. Let's go back to me getting stronger, all right? When you said you can change my body part to dragon you mean like scales, spikes, and claws?'

 **'Yes'** was dragon's simple answer.

'Hmm, I can't go back to the human world with something like that… And what about internal organs? Can you change those instead?' I asked looking for a way to both get stronger and remain as human, or human looking devil, as possible.

 **'Of course, I can but I suggest against it. It would affect your body quicker and in bigger scale and effects may be unpleasant. It's a coin toss really: either your body would adapt and you become a dragon for the most part in time or your body would reject those organs or simply wouldn't adapt fast enough and you may die, slowly and painfully.'**

'I see' was all I said. I was thinking about my options and I saw three: sacrifice my hand and chance to pretend to be a normal human, sacrifice my heart and hope that I live long enough to win or don't sacrifice anything and just keep training… and probably lose. None of those seemed appealing to me, but then it hit me.

'Ddraig, what about my wings? Maybe you can change them? I can hide them and they seem to be more like my arm than heart so it appears it would solve both problems.'

There was moment of silence before dragon responded

 **'I don't know honestly. I told you, you are my first host to become devil so I don't know much about them. I can't say if changing your wing will be closer to changing your limb or internal organ… or something entirely different.'**

'Nah, they just like my arm, except I can't really use them. It will be just fine' I said feeling relieved and optimistic again 'Anything else I should know before we make a deal?'

 **'*sigh* If you say so, partner… If everything goes according to plan after I change your wings to dragon equivalent you should feel stronger and faster. You will be more affected by dragon-slaying weapons but you will also gain more magic resistance. In time this effect will become stronger as your body reacts to dragon energy flowing through your body. Then again, none of my hosts was devil before so it may affect you differently and none of my previous hosts lived longer than 80 years after such transformation so I don't know long term effects. Other than that you should be same as now. While the times comes I will grant you my power to defeat your opponent. Oh, and you will gain strong affinity with one element, most likely fire as I am fire dragon, but you may be a different type of dragon.'**

'Great, everything sounds perfect! What should I do now?' I asked dragon, not affected by his skepticism

 **'Very well, say these words then.'** said the voice.

"I Issei Hyoudou, the carrier of the Red Dragon Emperor, pledge my devil wings to the Heavenly Dragon. I who will walk the path of righteousness and protect those close to me and crush those who oppose me. Awaken Boosted Gear!" I chanted aloud. After that, I felt the enormous pain coming from my whole body. I opened my mouth trying to scream but no sound escaped them as I fell unconscious.

* * *

It was early in the morning, the sun's first rays just peeked over the horizon brightening the darkness around the mansion when brown haired devil slowly opened his eyes. With confusion clearly painted on his face he looked around looking for an answer to the unspoken question and then memories of last night and his deal with Ddraig hit him like a rushed train. His expression morphed into terrified one and he quickly sat down on the bed and started checking his body for any changes while he screamed inside his thoughts:

'Ddraig! Are you there? What the hell happened?'

 **'Yes, I'm here partner. I don't want to say I told you so but your wings are, or should I say were, more than just another limb. They seemed to be the manifestation of your demonic powers or embodiment of your devil side and changing them into dragon wings affected you differently to what I saw with any of my previous hosts. I am unable to even describe those effects since I don't fully understand what happened, but what I can say is…'**

'Ddraig… am I dying?' Issei interrupted dragon in trembling voice

 **'No, you are not dying, but as I was saying…'** responded dragon clearly irritated

'Great! If I am not dying then we should focus on training for the Rating Game and worry about the details later' all traces of fear disappeared from devil's expression replaced by small smile and determined fire in his eyes

 **'Details?** ** _DETAILS_** **?!'** Ddraig shouted furiously making poor boy jump back, the previous expression coming back to his face **'You interfered with the very core of your being! There's no way of saying how badly it may have ended, you might have died, you might have ended up in a coma or you might have lost everything that makes you a person and become nothing but an empty shell! You are lucky that you are alive and well, we still don't know what are consequences of that change and you dare to call it** ** _details?!'_**

'But I am fine, nothing bad happened. I promise, after the game, I'll find someone who may know more about my situation and focus purely on my well-being, but right now I have to focus on getting stronger, strong enough to beat that yakitori and save buchou. I need to train hard, harder than ever in my life and it is only thing important for me at the moment.' Issei tried to calm the dragon but in response, he heard only a vulgar mumbling about his mental health and messed up priorities, yet he somewhat succeeded as after a while dragon stop mumbling and sighed.

 **'Fine, I won't argue with you about your own health, go train or do whatever else you want while I will try to find more about this situation and its effects. Just a heads up: you may not be able to contact me in near future as I will be deep inside your soul looking for answers. Farewell, partner '**

After that, the metaphorical line between them went silent and Issei sighed while standing up from the bed.

'I really, really hope that it all will end up well and we will laugh about that whole ordeal sitting by the fireplace watching over my grandchildren. *sigh* Not the time to be lost in dreams and fantasies, like I told Ddraig I have to train. But first…' he ended with the grin over his face and spread his new wings. Instead of bat-like devil wings, he had previously he saw two, meter long, scaled wings on his back. The wings which had two large spines at the top and were split into three sections were also red in color. While they were bigger and heavier than his devil wings they felt more natural to him like he always had them, just like, ironically considering the topic of the previous conversation, his another limb. He waved his wings few times grinning like a madman and decided to try to actually fly. It kind of worked, as he hovers above the floor for few moments before crashing into the wall, but it didn't stop him from smiling.

'They are beautiful and they work! I can fly!' Issei danced happily around the room 'But, seeing how Ddraig reacted, I shouldn't mention anything about this to anyone. There is no need to worry them…' he immediately stopped as he thought about what dragon said. After few moments he shook his head to clear his thoughts and go to the bathroom to prepare himself for the day. Issei quickly got ready, dressed in his workout clothes and left his room heading towards main room of the mansion only to find it completely empty.

'Huh, it seems everyone still asleep. Should I prepare breakfast for them or…' Issei wondered looking between the kitchen door and one to the outside. 'Nah, I'm sure buchou, Akeno-san, and Asia can make better meal faster than I could, no need to waste time' with that brunet left the house and started to warm up for training.

* * *

A/N: And done with first chapter, next one training summary, Rating Game and maybe more. Let me know what you think so far.

Oh, and kudos to SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan whose "Heart of a Dragon" was a big inspiration to me (and I may stole his chant to dragon…). If you somehow didn't read his story you really should: it is great.

Till the next time


	2. Training continues

Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the High School DxD anime/manga/LN

"Taking"

'Thinking or Issei talking with Ddraig'

Ddraig **'thinking or talking with Issei' "talking aloud** "

* * *

It was almost an hour after Sekiryuutei left until others woke up and come down. Girls, except Koneko who was sitting on the couch eating some of her sweets, were preparing breakfast talking about random meaningless stuff and Kiba was standing next to kitchen doors clearly not knowing what he should do after girls declined his offer to help. Only one missing was Issei who they all assumed was still sleeping.

"Almost done" Rias declared "Yuuto, could you go wake up the sleeping beauty so he could join us for breakfast?" she continues with a smile looking towards the only man in the kitchen.

"At once, buchou" he responded with small bow and left the room

While Kiba was gone girls finished making their meal and started carrying everything to the dining room. It was almost done when Knight came back and walked toward his King.

"Buchou, Issei's room is empty, I couldn't find him anywhere" he reported

Rias raised her eyebrow at that and looked around the room "Has anyone seen Issei?" in response other occupants of the room only shook their heads.

"Do you need me for something, buchou?" everyone turned to the voice to see brunet walking through the door

"Perfect timing Issei, breakfast is ready. But could you explain where were you?" princess asked

"I woke up early and decided to warm up before training leaving making breakfast to someone who can make something delicious" Pawn responded scratching back of his head causing girls to giggle and blush slightly at compliment

"Now that everyone is present, let's eat." Rias said and everyone took their seats at the table and started eating in silence yet Issei for the duration of whole breakfast couldn't shake off the feeling of someone watching him but he ignored it, his mind already occupied with food in front of him.

* * *

After breakfast everyone went to their respective places to train: Rias and Akeno went to nearby clearing to practice fighting with magic, Kiba was running around in weird patterns to increase his speed and reduce time to change direction while sprinting, Issei and Koneko was standing opposite to each other getting ready to their spar and Asia was nearby to help if either of them, mostly Issei, got hurt. Sekiryuutei also learned who was watching him: since he was alone with Koneko and Asia who was busy with some exercise given to her by Akeno it left only one possibility.

'I wonder why Koneko-chan is staring at me that way, I don't remember doing anything wrong to her lately' brunet tried to find a reason for such weird behavior of his kouhai but was brought back to reality when she launched at him without any warning. He narrowed his eyes at sight of an incoming attack. Compared to yesterday it seemed much slower, he could clearly see her movements and his instincts screamed to him about danger coming from his left side while she was right in front of him. However, being able to see your opponent and predict their attack means nothing if you are too slow to dodge. That was the lesson from this to the young devil as he felt fist crashing into the left side of his stomach bringing him to his knees. A slight groan of pain escaped his mouth as he waved his hand toward Asia to let her know he is fine.

"...At least you can take a punch." Koneko commented emotionlessly making Issei chuckle

"Yeah, I guess getting beat down by angry Kendo Club members daily has it upsides" as soon as those words left his mouth he realized his mistake and turn pale

'I shouldn't have say that. I should not have said that' he managed to think before Koneko's kick connected with his head and he blacked out.

"Issei-san!" Asia scream rushing toward unconscious boy first time of many that day

"...Pervert" was all little Rook said as she walked away.

After Asia healed Issei he remains laying on the ground, his vision blurry and his head spinning like crazy yet he was smiling, happy that he is still alive.

'It's miracle that I don't have a concussion from that hit… Or I have and simply don't know about it'

As soon as Issei felt that he is ready to fight they continued their sparring session.

* * *

After few hours of Issei getting beat down by Koneko, he showed some improvement: he usually manages to dodge for few minutes before he needed Asia's help and sometimes he was even able to land a hit or counter but it seems that they didn't faze his opponent. At some point, he felt confident enough to try to block Rook's kick but it ended with a broken arm, so he has never bothered to try this again.

Sekiryuutei's second part of the workout for a day was sword training with Kiba, which he found more enjoyable. While Rias' Knight was much faster and brown haired devil's skill in sword-fighting was even worse than in hand to hand combat, meaning that Issei had harder times trying to dodge his attacks and was unable to hit his sparring partner, pain from Kiba's hits with bokken weren't even close to the one to that from little Rook punches and kicks. Issei wasn't sure if this is because blonde is better in holding back his strength, he is weaker than Koneko or that he is just used to be hit by a wooden sword, but it was warmly welcomed change. Since Rias apparently has much more faith in her Knight to not hurt her Pawn too much Asia went to train on her magic with both Rias and Akeno leaving two men alone as Koneko went to train in the forest. Feeling little tired from constant fighting male devils decided to make a short break and catch their breaths while talking.

"Man, I know I said it already, but your sword technique is amazing, not to mention your speed. If we were fighting for real I would be dead in few seconds" brunet complimented blonde

"Thank you Issei-kun. It comes from Knight piece and I was training since I was a kid." Kiba frown for a fraction of a second on that memory, but Issei didn't notice it looking toward sky "And I had great instructor back in the underworld who taught me much more than just sword fighting. And don't worry too much about being weaker than me, we are training for just two days and you made such progress in that time that it scares me" he smiled "Also, you didn't use promotion, biggest advantage of a Pawn, or Boosted Gear. If you did I'm sure I would be in much worse position and maybe you could even win, if you manage to land one of those powerful swing" he smirked

"Thanks." Issei smiled missing sarcasm in Knight words "Do you mind if I ask something somewhat personal?" Kiba just raises eyebrow confused giving his friend signal to continue

"I mean, about your fighting style. It's just so different from Koneko's-chan, and I'm not talking about you using swords and her fighting with fists, but rather… I'm not sure how to describe it, the way you approach your opponent" he tried to find words to say what was on his mind

"You mean why I fight like some Knight in shining armor from fairy tales and she's more like bloodlust barbarian trying to defeat her opponent by all means necessary?" Kiba responded making Issei look at him in shock "Haha, I heard similar question before. While I wouldn't go as far as calling Koneko-chan barbarian I think it is a fairly good description of the difference between us. I guess it's the matter of mindset, I was taught to respect my opponent and fight fair, while she was always looked down because of her looks and learned to use it to her advantage by eliminating her opponent quickly before they start to treat her seriously."

"Isn't her approach better? From what I understand Rating game is a war, not a duel. Wouldn't it be better if you use your speed to appear behind your enemy and eliminate him before he has a chance to reacted? To be silent assassin looking for its target not knight trying to prove that he is better? After all in the end it won't matter how good or bad you fought in your duels if your team lose the game" Issei said more to himself than his friend who tried to find response to this but couldn't "OK, enough chatting, we are supposed to be training" he continues while standing and he grabbed his bokken "Are you ready?" Knight merely nodded and got ready to fight still digesting Pawn's words.

* * *

Last planned part of today training for Issei was demonic-power training with Akeno. In this training he was joined by Asia and they were currently sitting in one of the mansion's room, or more accurately, he was sitting in same room as girls but further to the side. Akeno was helping Asia with her training, which she showed immense progress making him happy but still little jealous, while he was tasked to try to focus and manifest his demonic power. How easy may it sound it was troublesome for Issei as his thoughts kept wandering between his assignment, Akeno's oppai, his nightmare, how much failure of a devil he is, idea of giving up and going back to physical training, Akeno's oppai, dreams of rewards from his senpai if he succeeded, feeling of disappointment of himself, Akeno's oppai and occasionally Rias' oppai.

"Still no progress, Issei-kun?" Akeno's voice broke through his thoughts

"No, unfortunately. I think that magic just isn't for me Akeno-san." Issei's eyes moved quickly to former nun and back to his senpai.

"Ufufu, little jealous of Asia-chan, hm Issei-kun?" Queen giggled "You shouldn't compare yourself to others, it's not fair to you. Rias is pure-blood devil, and my and Asia's evil pieces give us enhanced magical abilities it's no wonder that Asia-chan finds magic more neutral to her than you. Just keep focusing and I'm sure you succeed: you are a devil and have demonic energy, your wings are proof of that power, so don't give up just yet" she continued with smile not giving Pawn time to response

"Thanks, Akeno-san, I'll try my best not to disappoint you" he returned the smile and Akeno went back to her training with Asia leaving Issei alone with his thoughts again.

With new found vigor he returned to his training trying to focus on his demonic power but after few uneventful attempts, he was yet again ready to give up.

'I doubt that I ever gonna be able to use any kind of magic, doesn't matter if I have devil... wings... Ddraig said something about my wings being the manifestation of my demonic powers, so did Akeno-san... Did I fuck up? Maybe I should tell them? No, they would only worry, I'll talk with buchou after Rating Game, that what is important right now. Shit, I really should have listened to what Ddraig said...'

Issei tried to remember what dragon told him but came empty as he only focused on part of him getting stronger.

'What else did he say... That I should be glad to be alive and... That I'm a dragon! What a dragon I am, I can't even use fire' he ended his thoughts with a loud sigh and he immediately jumped back rolling over couch he was sitting on as he saw small fireball leaving his mouth and setting table in front of him on fire. He stood there looking on fire in shock ignoring pain coming from his burned throat.

"Issei-kun!"

"Issei-san!"

Both females in the room rushed towards him, Akeno summoned some water to extinguish flames and Asia tried to gain his attention to see if he was fine, but he stood still, eyes wide open looking at the smoke coming from the table. After putting off the fire Akeno came to Issei but her approach was much more direct than nun's one.

"Issei-kun" silence "Issei-kun! *slap*" that quickly brought Issei back to reality, he tried to say something but he rasped and winced from the pain. Asia screamed and immediately started to heal his throat. After few moments he recovered his ability to speak.

"Thanks, Asia, you saved me again" he smiled weakly and nun blushed

"Issei-kun" Akeno's voice and expression were unnaturally serious for her "Why did you try to breathe fire?"

"I didn't. I just sighed thinking about fire and it happened"

Queen blinked surprised and her usual smile returned to her face "Ufufu, it seems our little dragon is growing up, he just breathed fire for the first time, shame we didn't record it" she teased

"Not doing that again, if it weren't for Asia I would probably never spoke again" said dragon shook his head.

"But the question remains, how exactly were you able to breathe fire Issei-kun? You are not a dragon, you are a human reincarnated devil. Neither humans nor devils can breathe fire"

'Shit' Issei panicked "Maybe it comes from Boosted Gear? Ddraig said th..."

"Ddraig? As in The Red Dragon Emperor, Welsh Dragon Ddraig?" Akeno interrupted

"Hm? Oh, yes. His spirit is sealed in my Sacred Gear and he appeared in my dream to talk" Queen nodded signaling him to continue "Ddraig said that possessing Boosted Gear makes me a tiny part dragon. So maybe me thinking of dragon breathing fire unlocked some of its abilities?" Issei more asked than answered

"That may be right, or you may just have an affinity with fire. Could you try to summon some small flames with your energy instead of breathing it?" Akeno suggested, he just nodded and did as he was told.

Much to his surprise, he was able to summon fire over his palm without any problems though it disappeared almost as fast as it appeared. He felt simultaneously delighted that he managed to conjure fire and disappointed that it was the only thing he could do.

He looked towards the girls only to find them both smiling brightly for him, although Akeno looked more like a proud mother to him.

"You did it Issei-san" Asia stated cheerfully

"Congratulation Issei-kun, it really seems that you have an affinity for fire. But don't get carry away, summoning fire is an easy part, controlling it will take a lot of practice. That being said: no playing with fire inside, now shoo! Go outside before you set something else on fire" added Queen

"Yes mom" responded Issei rolling his eyes but only got a playful angry glare from his senpai

With new found motivation he continued his training outside, but, much to his disappointment, he hasn't managed to do more than just summoning fire for a short moment.

* * *

After finishing a day of training devils gathered inside for their dinner. In Issei's opinion, it was at least as good as previous one if not better, or maybe it's just his empty stomach speaking. Not thinking too much about it, he quickly emptied his plate with pace rivaling Koneko. He himself was surprised by the amount of food he already ate and still was hungry, but shrugged it off and refill his rice and grabbed some more meat.

Rest of devils already finished their meals and was sitting patiently waiting for Issei and Koneko, their eyes moving between these two with disbelief how they manage to eat that much. Issei, who never noticed the looks he received or that almost everyone else has finished, ate his fifth serving and sat back on his chair with a blissful expression on his face.

"Man, that was delicious. I stand by what I said, you are the best!"

Reactions he got from girls were different, Asia's face became red, Akeno giggled, Rias smiled and Koneko simply grabbed more food ignoring him.

"Now, Ise. Anything new from training?" Rias asked deciding that there is no point in waiting for Koneko as it may take a while.

"No, not really. I'm still the weakest" he replied with a sigh "But I was able to summon fire, that's something, right?"

"It is, but I don't think the fire will be effective against so-called fire bird. Nonetheless, you finally managed to use your demonic powers, so it is a good place to start." seeing that Koneko finished her meal she continued "Great job today everyone, let's take a bath and call it a day"

Hearing that everyone stood up and started to clean the table, except Issei whose mind was occupied with perverted fantasies. 'Sure, Koneko-chan said no yesterday, but who doesn't risk doesn't win, right?' he gathered the courage to speak

"May I..." he started but was interrupted by vision of his nightmare and Rias-like voice in his head 'I will not marry you, Issei'

"Ise?" this time her voice was coming from the real world. Issei looked around the room seeing that everyone attention was on him, he shook his head to clear his thoughts

"May I excuse myself. I still have some energy to burn, so I am going to train some more."

Everyone in the room looked at him with a surprised and doubtful look, after all, he was first up, training before they even woke up, spend the whole day with them almost without any breaks and they all were utterly exhausted while he claimed to be just fine.

"Are you sure? You trained a lot past two days, you should get some rest." Rias said giving him a chance to back up from his bluff

"Yeah, I'm sure. So, can I go?"

"Of course, just promise me that you won't stay too long or overtrain yourself. We start early tomorrow and I expect you to be in your peak condition"

"Roger that buchou" Issei replied making salute gesture "See you guys tomorrow" and with that, he left the room

Just out of tree line of forest near mansion young Sekiryuutei was sitting on big rock absorbed in thoughts. He did not lie when he told his friend that he was going to train more, but the thing was he had no idea what kind of training he should do.

'C'mon Issei, think. You played those RPGs and it is time to prove that they aren't useless. Pretend you are a protagonist in one of them, you have stats and skills.'

With that thought he grabbed a stick lying next to the rock and started writing on the ground in front of him. 'Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma... OK, that's not going to work... Strength is fine, dexterity as speed will work, vitality can be treated as stamina so it's good. Intelligence and wisdom? Let's put Magic instead and erase charisma, no way to train it now and it won't be useful.' he changed symbols to suited his taste better 'Now skills... Yeah, I got nothing, no wait I have Boost!' he wrote that to the side of stats symbols. 'Hmm, fighting styles can be treated as skills, let's add melee and sword fighting. And technically I can breathe fire, not going to unless I don't have a choice but just for formality sake' he added those to the list

"Four stats and four skills. But buchou told me to not use Boosted Gear, I can't train fighting without sparring partner, and breathing fire... just no' he crossed out all elements on skill list. 'So training my stats it is, the question remains which one.'

Issei looked over short list and sighed again

'Magic, huh?' he thought summoning fire over his palm 'Even if I can use fire, what could it do against Phenex? Maybe if it was water or ice it could be useful...' the fire faded, flickered and ultimately disappeared. 'Scratch that, I can't even use fire properly sitting here, no chance I could use it while fighting, so I guess magic is off the table.'

'Maybe I'll just continue yesterday's training with buchou? The boulder should still lie at the foot of the mountain' with that thought he quickly looked around to make sure no one is around and spread his dragon wings and flew down.

If anyone was nearby this mountain, he would see young man barely illuminated by moonlight, carrying rock tied to his back up and down very steep mountain path until late night.

The similar routine continued for a whole week: Issei would wake up early and go for a quick jog, have breakfast with others ORC members, train with them the whole day, has dinner and continue his night exercises, every second night with Rias' help. She would mostly just sit on the rock and throw extra workouts at him, though Issei was grateful as he had never trained before and she would guide him, suggesting different exercises to train his whole body evenly.

Everyone, Issei included, was surprised by this. Brunet barely even slept, maybe two, three hours a day, and yet he had more energy than ever. Even if he woke up exhausted quick shower and morning jog seemed to erase all symptoms and he was ready for training. He wondered if this was an effect of him being a devil or his new wings, but seeing others didn't show alike enthusiasm he was inclined to the second option. He had never let it bother him too much, he simply put it on the Nonimportant stack in his mind to ask the dragon in his hand later.

The only notable exception was on the fourth day when Rias decided to teach her new peerage members about Devils' knowledge.

It offered them all an excuse to rest while still doing something productive. Issei couldn't understand how names of devil's, angel's and fallen's help with preparation to Rating Game, but never complained, especially when it was Asia's turn to explain church related stuff, he just found Devil priestess' actions adorable.

* * *

Eight days have passed since devils came to the mountains, tomorrow is the last day of training. After that, they will return to their homes to rest before battle.

Issei was coming back from his night train session for a quick nap, his thoughts getting rather depressing.

'I have no talent in using swords. I have no talent in martial arts. I have no talent in demonic-power. The more I train with the others the more obvious it is how bad I am. I'm...so weak and so useless.'

"Ara? You're awake?" Rias' voice came from the living room. She was sitting by the table in a simple crimson negligee while wearing glasses her crimson hair tied into a ponytail.

"Ah, Buchou. Hello."

"Why are you so stiff? Good timing, let's talk for a bit."

Issei then sat opposite of her with the table between them trying to keep his eyes on her face.

"Huh? Buchou, do you have bad eyesight?"

"Oh, this? It's just for looks. I can think more clearly while having my glasses on. Fufufu, this is the proof that I have been in the human's world for so long."

Issei smiled gently at her comment and looked at the table.

There are loads of papers that looks like a map and battle formation.

"Staying late to prepare the strategy for the game?" he asked the redhead who closed the notebook with different strategies written on it.

"…To be honest, the only thing I will get by reading this is to have a peace of mind."

"Why is that?"

"If the opponent is another High-class Devil, then we could fight by reading this. This book is written with lots of research. But that isn't the problem."

"? Then what's wrong?"

"Raiser himself. No, the biggest problem is that our opponent is the Phoenix. When we called him fire bird we weren't exaggerating. The humans named the Devils' Phoenix as "Phenex" to distinguish it from the mystical beast Phoenix, however, the mystical beast has the same ability as Raiser's clan. In other words immortality. That's the opponent we must fight against."

"That's cheating! I mean being immortal is basically being invincible!"

"Yes. They are basically invincible. Even if you attack them, their wounds will heal right away. They can resurrect no matter how many times they are defeated. The other Devils have limits to their defense unlike the Phoenix, so they would get defeated once they get hurt badly enough, but Phenex? They can just stand still and take almost any attack with almost none consequences."

Issei just sat there with mouth wide open unable to form any response to that. Rias continued talking looking at something none existing in a distance with a sad expression on her face.

"I felt something uneasy when I heard that Raiser was chosen as my fiancé. Yes, I think Otou-sama and the others chose him in case something like this was to happen. They chose Raiser so I will have no choice but to marry him. Even if it becomes a match between households, they knew that there was no way for me to win. In chess, you would say they tricked me. A swindle. "

Buchou looked back at her servant and chuckled seeing his face.

"You know, it's not like we can't defeat Raiser?"

"Are you serious!?"

"Yes. There are ways you can defeat him, especially in games in which winning is not defined by eliminating [King]. But I'm sure they won't give me that opportunity. That leaves us with two options: beat him down with incredible power or keep on taking him down until his mind crushes. The first method requires the strength of a God-class. The second one is to save our stamina until Raiser gets his mind crushed. Even if his body is immortal where he can resurrect his body many times, his mind isn't immortal. His mind will definitely tire down every time we defeat him. It's our win if we completely crush down the Phoenix's mind. Then he will stop resurrecting and he will fall. Well, the easiest way is to defeat him with a power that is on par with God that crushes him down with one strike which takes down both his body and mind.

There are also ways to stop his regeneration in the first place, like Belial's Worthlessness, Holy or Divine energy, strong water or ice magic to stop his flames but unfortunately, we don't have any of that"

After that, both teenagers appeared to be lost in their thoughts until Issei broke the silence asking question that has been bothering him ever since his nightmare.

"Buchou."

"What is it?"

"Why do you hate Raiser…no, more like, why are you against this marriage?"

Rias sighed at the question and looked away before answering.

"…I'm a "Gremory"."

"Huh? W-Well, you certainly are…"

"No. I didn't re-introduce myself. I'm a Devil from the House of Gremory, and that name will follow me to wherever I go. Don't get me wrong, I feel proud of it, but I wish people would see me as _Rias_ Gremory no _Gremory_ Rias" she stopped for a moment before laughing slightly shaking her head "And with that dream, I moved to Japan where the family name comes before given name. However, I'm enjoying my life in the human world. They don't know about the Gremory the Devil. Everyone looks at me as who I am. I really like that feeling. I never felt something like this in the Devils' society, and I never will now on as well. The only time I can enjoy my life as myself is when I'm in the human world.

I just want to be with someone who will love me as Rias without the fact that I'm a Gremory. That's my small dream I have… Unfortunately, Raiser only looks at me as Rias from the Gremory. And he loves me as Rias from the Gremory. That's why I hate it. But still, the pride of being a Gremory is very important. My feelings may be complicated, but I want to cherish this small dream I have."

For a moment Issei was just looking at sad devil not sure what to say. He didn't understand why she would open so much to him, but that felt unimportant; he just wanted to comfort her, but how. He never felt anything to his name: he wasn't born in some noble nor rich family, hell, he was the most famous, or rather infamous, in his whole family; he was just son of his parents, just one of many middle-class families in Japan. Only expectations towards him were to graduate from high school or maybe university and to find a good job while she has been spending her life while carrying the name of Gremory on her back. He didn't understand both the feelings of a girl and the structure of the Devils' society, but her words struck a familiar chord from his past.

'So Buchou wants to be loved as "Rias" and not as "Rias Gremory" from the opposite sex'

That simple thought brought memories from his childhood, his lonely childhood with only one friend, Rin, who moved to England when he was seven. Memories of other kids avoiding him seemingly for no reason and his simple desire: to meet someone who would want to be his friend, to get to know him, to see past whatever it was that kept others away.

"I like Buchou as Buchou." He said only slightly louder than a whisper, but due to devils enhanced senses Rias heard him and was staring at him in wonder causing him to continue

"I don't know anything about Gremory or about the Devils' world, but to me Rias-buchou is Rias-buchou… Nggh, I don't understand all the complicated stuff but to me, the usual Buchou is the best!" that simple sentence followed by his genuine smile was all that was needed to make heiress' cheeks match the color of her crimson hair.

"B-Buchou? D-Did I say something weird?" Issei asked with a dubious voice

"I-It's nothing!" Rias responded quickly in a slight panic and tried to change the subject unknowingly bringing dragon back to his previous thoughts. "How was your training?"

"Buchou, I'm worthless. I have been useless…since I got here."

"Ise?" she asked shocked seeing tears on her [Pawn] face

"I think I've gotten stronger since I came here and trained with everyone, but more than that… I felt the difference between us. If I do sword training, I realized how amazing Kiba is and realized that I won't be able to become a swordsman like Kiba… When I do the training for using demonic-power, I realize how superior Akeno-san is while Asia is improving her demonic-powers… And I can't do anything… Even after giving my… " he stopped himself before he told his master about his deal with Ddraig and tried to hide it by wiping his tears "Even after giving my best and training almost non-stop I'm still the weakest. Not only that, I'm also the most useless. Only good thing about me is Boosted Gear and it means nothing if I'm the one with the ultimate Sacred Gear. That's why I was laughed at by Raiser back then, right? I acted tough by thinking like it makes me someone... someone... " Issei wasn't able to finish his sentence, choking because of crying. It made him feel even worse, he lowered his head in shame making tears drop on the floor. Because of that, he didn't notice when his [King] approached him and sat down next to him realizing that after she hugged him gently and started patting his head.

"You want confidence, right? Okay, I will give you confidence, just wait until tomorrow. But now, you have to rest your body and mind. I will be with you until you feel like sleeping."

He couldn't understand what she meant by those words or why she was so nice to him, but he didn't care. He was just enjoying comfort his [King] warm hug offered, sobbing in her arms.

* * *

Next morning Sekiryuutei was reluctant to leave his room, memory of last night breakdown burning in his mind. He was supposed to be her [Pawn], her servant and soldier who will support his [King] in anything and bring her victory over Phenex giving her her freedom back. But he wasn't; in fact, he appeared to be complete opposite: a scared teenager who needed her support instead. He was ashamed of himself and was afraid to face his friends.

After a few minutes of internal debate, he finally moved towards the doors, after all, he couldn't just hide here forever. Slowly walking toward kitchen while imagining worse and worse scenarios of what is waiting for him there he reached kitchen doors.

"Ah Ise, did you sleep well?" to his surprise it was nothing like he imagined, instead he was greeted by smiling red haired [King] and the same expression was on all other peerage members faces who offered their greetings (well, except Koneko, she didn't show any emotions like usual). He didn't trust his voice so he simply returned the smile and nodded.

"That's good to hear. Now, eat your breakfast and meet us outside, I have a promise to fulfill" again Issei didn't understand what she meant and just looked at her with puzzled eyes but she didn't say anything more, just smiled at him once more and brushed his hair on her way out.

-o-0-o-

"Use your Boosted Gear, Ise."

That were the first words Buchou said to me when I joined other devils. I was forbidden to use since I got into the mountains, what changed? And what with the promise she mentions? Huh, I probably should get used to the feeling of not understanding what is happening around me, it seems to be happening a lot lately.

"I want you to prepare for mock battle with Yuuto while keeping Boosted Gear active, we will start the battle in two minutes."

"Of course, Buchou." I and Kiba say in unison.

I make my Boosted Gear appear on my left arm just like Buchou orders me to.

"Boost!"

[Boost!]

The Sacred Gear makes a sound at my words, and I can feel the power coming into my body. With this, my power has doubled and it will continue doing it every ten seconds until it will reach the limit of my body.

I got my twelfth power up after Buchou ordered me to power up. Then Buchou orders me to "Stop" my Sacred Gear's power up.

"Let's do this, Boosted Gear!"

[Explosion!]

"Ise, I want you to fight Yuuto in that state. Yuuto, I will ask you to be his opponent."

"Yes, Buchou."

Kiba makes his stance by pointing his bokuto toward me after Buchou ordered him.

"Ise, do you want to use a sword? Or do you want to fight with bare hands?"

Buchou asks me how I will be fighting. Hmm, even if I have a bokuto, I won't be able to use it…

"I will fight bare handed!"

"Very well. Now then, I'll ask the both of you to start."

I also make a stance against Kiba. Well, it's a newbie's stance but it is still better than standing still. I don't know why, but this fight seems different, or more accurately I feel different waiting for Kiba to make a move. I don't know how to explain this feeling, it like my body is excited by the prospect of a fight. I move my attention back to the [Knight] who started his attack. Weird, he seems slower… and with that, he disappeared from my sight. That dammed trait of [Knight], his speed is god-like I can't lose focus.

SWISH. BANG!

I raise my left arm and block Kiba's swing with my gauntlet. I can do this!

Kiba makes a shocked expression, this is my chance. I punch towards Kiba who stopped moving but he disappears just before I hit him, and my punches cut through the air. Crap! He dodged it!

-o-0-o-

Rias Gremory watched her [Pawn] and [Knight] fight with pride, especially towards her [Pawn]. She knew how fast Yuuto is and Ise was able to block his attack and almost succeeded in counter attack attempt. She winced slightly as a moment later dragon received a nasty blow to the head, however, he didn't seem bothered too much by it and continued his tries to hit his opponent. She was impressed how he released a kick toward the [Knight] exact moment Yuuto landed on the ground. Her [Knight] managed to dodge again and she could see that the fight was coming to a stalemate so she decided to end it.

"Ise! Shoot with a block of demonic-power! When you form a block of demonic-power, shoot it with a shape you imagine the most!"

She watched as her servant summoned a small ball of flames over his armored palm.

'Huh, it seems that Akeno was right, he really has an affinity with fire alone' she thought little disappointed; fire is not effective versus Phenex. Although there was something odd about this fire, it felt different than she was used to, was is because of Boosted Gear influencing it? Then she realized what it was 'It's not a ball of flames at all! It's a block of demonic-power covered in flames, no, it's more like the block of energy is burning! What in the name of Maou? Why does it look like that? Maybe he imagined it as flames and…' her train of thought was broken when Issei shot that energy towards Kiba.

Her eyes widen at the sight of the attack. The ball, previously size of a golf ball at best, was now bigger than a car and is flying toward the [Knight] with impressive speed. She sighed in relief when Yuuto dodged the attack and continue to observe it flying further toward mountain next to the one they were on and hit it creating a massive explosion.

'A-Amazing… and terrifying' she thought seeing the upper third of the mountain vaporized by the attack.

[Reset]

The sound made by Boosted Gear brought her attention back to the [Pawn] who was lying on the ground, eyes and mouth wide open clearly in shocked.

"I'll have both of you stop it there." 'If only because Ise is unable to fight more' she was amused by his reaction and walked to her servants. Kiba put his bokuto down and looked at the mountain and back to his opponent.

"Good job you two. Now I will hear your impression. Yuuto, how was it?"

"To tell the truth I'm astonished. I tried to finish the spar with the first strike, but I couldn't break through Ise-kun's guard. I was focused on breaking through it. I also tried to knock him down in my second strike by hitting his head from above the air, but that failed as well." [Knight] laughed and put his bokuto to the front to show it to everyone. It looked like it was going to break into pieces at the slightest touch.

"I strengthened the bokuto with demonic-power, but it couldn't give that much damage to Ise-kun because his body was too hard. If we continued, I would only have the option to run around because I wouldn't have my weapon."

"Thank you, Yuuto. That's how it is, Ise."

The [Pawn] finally closed his mouth and moved his eyes from remainings of the mountain to look at his [King] with a puzzled expression.

"Ise. You said to me that you were "the weakest and have no talent", right?"

"Y-Yes."

"That's half correct. You, who haven't activated your Sacred Gear, is weak. However, you become a totally different person if you use the power of the Boosted Gear. That attack is one of a High-class Devil. If that hits, most people will be blown away.

Your body which went through basic training became a vessel that can handle a Sacred Gear that increases the power drastically. Even now, your body is strong enough to handle the power increase. I told you before, right? You can become the strongest as long as you improve your basics. The higher your initial strength is, the more the power can increase. The basic stamina rises from "1" to "2". Even something like that would become a big factor for you to become strong." She smiled warmly at sight of confidence returning to her [Pawn].

"You are the key to the game. Alone you would be in trouble if someone caught you off-guard while boosting, but you are not alone Ise. This battle is a team battle, we all will be there to support you as you will be there to support us, right? Trust in us. Together we can win this, no, we will win this battle!" she finished her speech and other peerage members voiced their confirmation.

Rias was surprised when Issei stood up and walked towards her. Not because him doing that, but because the look on his face, she could swear she saw fire behind tears in his eyes.

Issei on his part didn't understand (again!) why she was so nice to him nor why she sounded so sure of his usefulness. But it didn't matter. He finally felt like he belongs somewhere, with people who cared for him, people who trusted him and people whom he could trust. He promised himself that no one in this world would take that away from him, and those who try will **_burn_**.

He kneeled in front of his [King] ignoring everyone's shocked gasps.

"Thank you, Buchou, for everything. I promise I will not disappoint you!"

"Let's show it to those that looked down on you. It doesn't matter if the opponent is Phoenix or not. We need to teach them very strictly in how strong Rias Gremory and her servants are!"

[Yes!]

Everyone replies to her with a strong voice. With that Rias decided it was time to start usual training and started instructing her pieces what they should do.

Issei just stood there for a brief moment staring at his [King] before leaving to his training area.

'I will repay her kindness. I will defeat Raiser Phoenix! No matter how or at what cost. I will give her what she deserves: happiness"

* * *

 **A/N**

Yes, I'm alive and still plan to continue writing this story: it is just much harder than I thought. Having ideas is one thing, write them? Well, apparently I cannot write something I am satisfied with. But I will try to improve, after all, it is the main reason why I started writing this...

The last two parts (talk with Rias and fight with Kiba) are just slightly rewritten from LN and parts are just plainly copied. Why?

1\. I don't want to rush things too much. I don't want him to change from perverted looser into strongest and smartest being in the universe over night.

2\. With that said: why bother inventing the wheel anew?

I hope you don't mind.

However, I tried to add some things. I added some of Issei's past and his feelings to better explain his character I'm trying to develop (I'll make a full explanation of what he refers to in future chapter), sneak peek of his powers he got with his deal with Ddraig and his dragon instincts waking up. Hope you enjoyed!

Oh, and I updated the previous chapter. Nothing added, I just tried to fix some mistakes.

Till the next time


	3. The battle begins

On the day of the decisive battle around 11.45pm at night

The ORC members have gathered in the old school building waiting in their favorite places. Everyone except Asia was wearing their uniform. Kiba also had a gauntlet and some armor on his lower legs, Koneko had a pair of some MMA gloves with little kitten paws on them.

Everyone tried to relax in their way before the battle, be it reading a book (Koneko) or drinking green tea in silence (Rias and Akeno). Asia was sitting on her chair massaging her forehead, apparently, she tried to pray again. Issei, who also was sitting on his chair was on edge of standing up and walking around to calm down, he didn't only because it would make others nervous. Despite his [King's] words he was still doubting himself and his strength. Of course, he would give his all, but he was sure that his all wasn't enough.

He looked towards the nun, who made a cute "Aw" sound and suppressed a chuckle. She still hasn't learned to stop prying. He smiled half to her to give her some confidence and half to himself at the memory of earlier events.

-Flashback-

KNOCK KNOCK

"Ise-san, may I come in?"

"Yeah, sure."

"U-Umm, Ise-san?" the nun walked hesitantly to the boy

"Can I sit beside you?"

"Y-Yeah. Sure."

Asia approached him sitting on his bed and then she sat beside him hugging onto his arm tightly.

"W-what's wrong?"

"Can I stay like this until we leave?"

"Sure."

"…Can I stay with you forever from now on?"

"Yeah, we will always be together."

-Flashback end-

Ten minutes prior to the match, the magic-circle glows and Grayfia appeared from it.

"Is everyone ready? The match is about to start."

Everyone moved to the magic-circle on the floor.

"This magic-circle will teleport you to the battlefield. The location of the place is in a different dimension used for battles. You may fight with all your power. It's a disposable space so feel free to fight to your satisfaction."

Issei pulled Rias' sleeve gently like little kid trying to get their parent attention.

"Hey, Buchou, you also have another [Bishop], right?"

"What is it?"

"Buchou, where is that person?"

"Unfortunately, the other [Bishop] can't participate. Though there will be a time when I will talk about that in the near future."

He nodded, it's probably complicated and he should focus on the battle.

Grayfia spoke again breaking the painful silence in the room.

"This "Rating Game" battle will also be viewed by members of both households from a different location through the broadcast. Maou Lucifer-sama will also be viewing this battle. Please do not forget about it."

Everyone looked at her in shock. Lucifer himself will be watching?

"Onii-sama is? …I see, so Onii-sama is also going to view this battle."

'Wait, "Onii-sama"?' Issei was too shocked to even voiced his thoughts, thankfully Asia did

"U-Umm, Buchou, you just called Maou-sama "brother"…? Did I hear wrong?"

"No, Buchou's brother is indeed the Maou-sama" Kiba answered straight away.

Both Issei and Asia looked at the [Knight] gobsmacked.

"Are you confused because his name is different to my family names?" Rias guessed what was her servants thinking. Both simply nodded.

"He took the name of "Lucifer" after he became Maou. There cannot be hell without the Maous and after civil war four strongest devils were chosen to become new "Kings". They inherited previous one's names which act as their titles and symbol to the devils."

"…So that's why Buchou needs to inherit her household." [Pawn] whispered but it was heard by everyone and Rias nodded to him with a smile.

"It's about time. Everyone, please get ready to teleport."

The magic circle's symbol changed to another one which looked like a combination of Gremory's and Phenex's symbol and started to emit lights which covered [King] with her peerage and teleportation began.

* * *

After the light went out Issei looked around confused, they were still in OCR!

"Hello, everyone. I am Grayfia, a maid from the House of Gremory and today I will be the arbiter of the Rating match between the House of Gremory and the House of Phoenix. This battlefield which is a replica of the school, Kuou Academy, Rias-sama's "base" would be the Occult Research Cub's club room located in the old school building. Raiser-sama's "base" would be the Student Council's room located in the new building."

'They created a copy of our school just for the battle? Just how extraordinary can the power of Devils be!?'

"Now it's the time for the commencement of the battle. Also, this match will continue till dawn in the humans time. So, Game starts now." Grayfia continued.

ORC members gathered around the desk and equipped transceiver provided for the game listening Rias explaining her plan for the battle. After she finished Akeno, Koneko and Kiba immediately, Asia was supposed to stay in the club room and Issei just stood there as he still wasn't given his orders.

Rias then sat on the sofa and waved her hand towards the [Pawn]

"Issei, lay down here, please." She said pointing to her lap.

That stopped every process in his brain

'W-Wait is that…the legendary "lap pillow"!? A-and from Buchou?' he moved on autopilot, tears gathered in his eyes. It was too much for him to handle.

"Geez. Why are you crying?"

"Sob, getting a "lap pillow" from Buchou, I'm so moved that the tears won't stop. I will never forget this sensation. Sob, I'm happy that I was born."

"If it's just "lap pillow", then I will give it to you again. You seriously are an overreacting boy.

TOUCH

His brain rebooted at a feeling of her hand on his forehead or feeling of power growing in his body, he wasn't sure. Lap pillow was quickly forgotten. This energy, it felt much different than energy from Boosted Gear, it was warm and comfortable. Then the pleasant warmth changed into hotness causing his body to shiver slightly and he stood up looking down at his hands.

'This power… is it coming from my body? Is it MY power?'

"Issei-san, are you fine? What happened?" Asia quickly dropped her anger towards the [Pawn] for lying on Rias lap and rushed to see if he was ok.

"Ise?" Rias also stood up worried for her servant.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm fine. Amazing even."

Rias sighed in relieve.

"You shouldn't worry me like that, I unlocked a small portion of the seal that I had cast on you and you scared me that something went wrong"

"Yes Buchou, sorry Buchou… wait, seal?"

"When I reincarnated you I used eight [Pawns] but its power would be too much for your human body to handle so I sealed part of it and now when you are stronger, I just unsealed a bit of it."

PAT PAT.

She then patted his head making him blissful again.

'Aah, it feels so nice to have Onee-sama pat my head. Huh, why is Asia looking at me with sharp eyes again?'

"Listen up, Ise. Use the "promotion" to change into [Queen] as soon as you can. The battle will change if you promote into the [Queen] that possess the strongest power"

"Y-Yes, I understand!"

"That's a good boy. Now, follow the plan, go meet with Koneko."

Issei saluted in silence and walked to the doors and opened them. Just before he left he turned, looked at his [King].

"Buchou! I will definitely make you win!" leaving without giving her time to reply.

Rias smiles after hearing that.

"Yes, I will be relying on you. My adorable, Ise." She whispered to herself.

* * *

Issei and Koneko were walking towards gym back door in silence but her constant glimpses at him made him little uncomfortable. He gathered the courage to confront her about it, but before he had a chance to speak she looked directly into his eyes and spoke first.

"...You smell like a dragon" due to Koneko's usual monotone Issei took her words as an accusation and felt like he should defend himself while he himself didn't see any problems with that.

"According to Ddraig I am a part dragon so I guess I can smell like one" he tried to shrug it off.

"...No, you smell more than before" Yep, it definitely felt like an interrogation, not a friendly talk.

"Buchou released part of the seal?"

"...No, it started earlier in the mountains"

"*sigh* Koneko-chan, I don't know what to tell you, maybe it's because Ddraig has awoken, maybe it's an effect of my training or maybe both." she didn't respond, just watch him a little longer before proceeding to completely ignore him.

 **'I'm pretty sure it's because of your new wings and you know it'** powerful voice rang through Issei's head.

'Ddraig! You're back? Did you find something? What took you so long? Ah, where are my manners... Hi Ddraig, good to see you, how are you?' young devil spoke in his thoughts fast as kid high on sugar.

 **'In that order: yes, yes, the seal, I don't know, I've been worse and it's good to see you too, Partner'** dragon responded amused.

After a short moment devil realized that Red Dragon wasn't going to tell him more by himself.

'Sooo, what did you find? Good news or bad news?'

 **'The good news is that changing your wings didn't affect you as bad as I thought. While its effects were different than I anticipated, but we can discuss them later, the pain you felt was simply a reaction to demonic energy in your body fusing with dragon fire and you weren't at-risk of dying. The bad news is that it all changed when redhead messed with the seal.'**

'H-how bad is it?'

 **'The seal broke causing a surge of dragon energy to which your body is reacting, faster even to what I saw when I changed the heart of the previous host. If you were still a human you would be already dead, but devils have stronger bodies. That being said, you still may die or just fell unconscious even before the end of this Game, or you may be just fine, only time will tell'**

"…Presence. Enemy." little [Rook] voice broke conversation in Issei's head and he realized that they are already in the gym!

 **'Go get 'em, Partner. I'll see if I can reduce negative effects from that energy burst'**

"We know you are there, servants of Gremory! We watched you coming inside."

'No point in hiding ourselves' Issei thought and walked toward the platform with Koneko.

There were four female devils standing at the court. The woman with a china dress, one of Riser's [Rook], younger twins, Riser's [Pawns] and also... the sight of fourth women, also one of the [Pawns] made Issei angry yet nervous. She was the one who humiliated him in the club room by knocking him out with her stick. He wanted revenge but wasn't sure if he is strong enough to achieve it. There was also a fact that they were outnumbered, even if in piece value he was worth eight [Pawns] in simple headcount it still was 2v4.

"Boosted Gear" he got ready to fight, Rias' plan meant that they cannot back off.

[Boost!]

"…I will leave the [Pawns] to you, Ise-senpai. I will take care of the [Rook]." The [Rooks] moved to the side for their battle and Phenex's [Pawn] Mira prepared her stick to attack only male devil in the gym.

"Disassembling time " he watched the twin girls grabbed their chainsaws with a smile.

'Hey, a chainsaw? Who allowed it in the game? And why do twins sound so happy at that thought?' Issei thought as he glimpsed towards [Rooks] who already started their fight. It looked like a martial arts match because of all the punches they are throwing at each other, they would certainly hurt him, they looked so powerful. Koneko seemed to have an advantage due to her small build offering her more movability but her opponent was also moving swiftly.

Issei on his part was trying to relax and suppress the urge to leap forward and claim his revenge. It wouldn't end well, even if he succeeds and beats her he would leave himself open to the twin's attacks. Moreover, thanks to [Boosted Gear] time was quite literally his ally: every second that passes brings him closer to another boost of his power.

His opponents seemed to know this too, Mira didn't waste any more time and moved forward probably hoping to repeat her victory from club room earlier, twins followed just behind her one of her each side. This time Issei was able to dodge it easily but found himself in reach of one of the chainsaws. He managed to avoid this attack as well, but it still grazed his cheek and he saw the second chainsaw to his left side. He jumped back to safety only to met a stick coming down aimed at his head. This time he decided to block, after all, stick won't cut his arm off but it didn't change much as the twins followed quickly not giving him a chance to make his attack. He cursed under his breath barely avoiding another attack. While the girls weren't remotely close to Kiba's speed their numbers gave them an advantage, Issei couldn't break through their coordination, whenever one of the [Pawns] left an opening he was forced to back off by another before he could make use of it. Because of that similar pattern of male devil blocking or dodging continued and Issei noticed his uniform was cut in many spots.

"Ah, geez! This is so frustrating~!"

"Why isn't it hitting him!?"

"…I can't break through his guard."

The sight of angry twins and a disappointed girl gave him some morale back, but he still needed a game-changer.

[Boost!]

Second boost, his power have been doubled twice, simple math says he should be four times stronger than before after he uses [Explosion]. But he wasn't sure if it is enough, one mistake and he may lose his arm or worse and he still has no idea how to deal with those damn chainsaws. Then, he got an idea.

'Ddraig, how durable is Boosted Gear?'

' **Pretty much indestructible, at least it can withstand God-class attack. It should be more than enough for your little plan** ' Ddraig responded proudly.

"Time's up, let's do this! Explosion!"

[Explosion!]

He could feel the power rising but didn't stop to enjoy it, Explosion lasts for a limited time and he may not get a second chance. He grabbed chainsaw's blade with his gauntlet and truly to Ddraig's words it didn't even leave a scratch. He tried to throw it at Mira to buy some time but to his surprise, the girl never let go of her weapon and she flew with it.

'Well, that also works' Issei thought seeing the girl crash with her friend.

"You! How dare you hit my Onee-chan!" the second twin clearly wasn't a fan of such events and tried to use her chainsaw to avenge her sister. Issei just twisted his body and kicked her in the stomach in one smooth move sending her flying towards the wall.

Other girls managed to stand up and tried to attack him from behind but with one opponent down Issei had more space to fight. He stepped to the side and maneuver himself to be behind Mira who turned back just to see his fist coming toward her.

Issei used his armored arm for this attack, easily breaking the stick she used to defend herself and finished with a powerful uppercut to her chin. That left only one of the twins who tried to attack him from the front in a blind rage, raising her chainsaw and jumping to give her swing more momentum. To her shock, Issei also jumped towards her, blocked her chainsaw with his gauntlet and followed with a knee strike to her face. They both landed at the same time but only the dragon was standing, she fell on the ground unconscious.

"Raiser Phenex-sama's one [Pawn] retires" Grayfia's voice echoes through the battlefield.

'Ok, that last one hit maybe was too hard' Issei looked over the battlefield and noticed other [Pawns] unable to stand up but still conscious and that the china dress woman had her hands on the floor while Koneko was still maintaining her fighting stance.

[Reset] he sighed, the fight was over.

[Ise, Koneko. Can you hear me? It's me.] They both heard Rias' voice through the transmitter.

"Yes! Both Koneko-chan and I are safe!"

[That's good to hear. But Akeno's preparation is also completed! I want you two to move accordingly with the plan!]

Gremory's servant nodded after exchanging glances with each other and quickly went to the central entrance while ignoring the girls who were down on the floor.

"Are you running away!? This location is supposed to be a crucial place!" one of Raiser's servants asked shocked.

The gym is certainly important. A location that connects the old school building with the new school building. Both sides want to control it, but Rias doesn't have enough manpower to protect it, hence her plan. A moment after her servants left the building it a huge lightning fell down onto the gym causing a huge explosion.

"Take."

Issei turned back toward Akeno's voice and he could see her flying through the air with her black wings spread and smile on her face.

She had her right hand raised upwards and it was sparkling with electricity.

"Raiser Phenex-sama's two [Pawns] and one [Rook] retire!" Grayfia announcement was heard again.

'She-she just annihilated the gym with that one attack? "The Priestess of Lightning" is a fitting nickname. Yup, I will make sure I don't make Akeno-san angry.'

"We did it, Koneko-chan." Issei tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she avoided him. 'Right, she doesn't like me' he sighed.

[Everyone, can you hear me? Akeno did a perfect attack and finished it. With this, the first phase of our plan is completed.]

Rias announced to her servants via the transmitter.

[She can't use it again until her demonic-power recovers and the enemy still has a greater number than us. We will head out as soon when Akeno's ready, so I will leave the rest to each of you till then. So please move on to the next phase!]

"Yes!"

Next phase was for Issei and Koneko to regroup with Kiba and defeat the enemy located at the sports court.

 **BANG!**

Before they got a chance to move there was explosion nearby. More specifically exactly where Koneko was standing. Issei rushed to her.

"…K-Koneko-chan!"

She was lying on the ground a bit away from that spot while smokes arise from her. Her uniform was torn as if she was dragged into a bomb. There are parts of her uniform that are gone.

"Take." Riser's [Queen], Yubelluna, mocked Akeno's words with evil smirk flying over them. She dressed up as a mage, wearing her hood and holding weird staff.

"Fufufu. When you hunt a prey, the best time to take them down is when the prey accomplished something because that's the time when the prey is the most vulnerable. It's enough for us to "sacrifice" many of our pieces in order to take down one of you. Your group has a small number of members to begin with. That alone will be enough to give a huge damage to your group, right? Even if you defeat us, you cannot defeat Raiser-sama. It's useless to resist."

"Ara ara. I will be your opponent, Yubelluna-san. Or should I call you the "Bomb Queen"?"

Akeno-san moved between other [Queen] and her kouhais as if she was trying to protect t.

"I don't like that name because of its bad taste, "Priestess of Lightning". Though I was hoping I can fight you."

[Queens] exchanged greetings while flying in a circle facing each other preparing to fight. Issei didn't pay them attention, his focus on little [Rook] in his arms.

"…Ise-senpai… Akeno-senpai…I'm sorry …I wanted to be of more use to Buchou and everyone…" Koneko spoke with a voice that is about to disappear.

"Y-You don't have to apologize! We were doing our job! It's not a problem! Just wait, once Asia arrives, she can heal you"

Koneko's body was enveloped with light. The body starts to fade and then it disappears from here. She was crying just before she disappeared. She was crying because of regrets!

"Rias Gremory-sama's [Rook] retries."

The dragon saw red. He understood that she was safe and just teleported out of the arena to get proper treatment, her life was not in danger. But it didn't matter to him, she was crying. That women made his friend, cry. He wouldn't forgive her, even if that was just a match.

His incredibly low growl got both [Queens] attention and broke their fight.

"You dare do call Koneko-chan _prey_? I'll show you what it means to be a real **_prey_** " he spoke in low voice slowly turning around. His brown eyes lost all friendliness and were glowing green as he was glaring at Yubelluna.

[Boost! Explosion!]

Before any of [Queens] got a chance to react he disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of Riser's servant. His arm stretched, Boosted Gear just far enough from her face to fit the small ball of his burning energy.

"Take" was all he said, in angry yet mocking voice. Then the energy exploded sending her to the ground.

"I-Ise-kun, meet up with Yuuto-kun. I will take care of her." Akeno tried to calm him though her face showed a mixture of shock, fear and, strangely, arousal. She seemed to be turned-up by [Pawn's] new behavior.

"No…" Issei ignored her as he landed and walked toward opponent's [Queen] who was desperately trying to open some strange vial. He stood right in front of her, raised his Boosted Gear and smirked.

"That is what the prey feel. Utter horror and helplessness watching predator just in front of them while they cannot do anything." He punched aiming at her heart. [Rook's] defenses saved her from most of the force but it didn't stop spikes on Boosted Gear to puncture her body.

"Raiser Phenex-sama's [Queen] retire!"

Akeno watched [Pawn's] actions in shock. She couldn't understand what made lovable pervert act like that. She landed and approached Issei but was little scared to speak to him, she wasn't sure if he was thinking clearly and wouldn't attack her. The boy straightened up and turned to face her, making her sigh in relief as his eyes were back to usual brown color.

"Ano, Akeno-san? What happened?" that sentence nearly made her fall to her knees.

"You-you don't know?"

"All I remember is being pissed off at sight of Koneko-chan's tears" Issei chuckle sheepishly scratching back of his head.

Akeno blinks once. Then a second time, and another looking at the boy with eyes wide open.

"You just beat Riser's [Queen] with two hits"

"R-really? Did I? Wow…" he couldn't believe it, but she wasn't here and Akeno didn't have any reason to lie. The [Queen] placed her hand on his cheek.

"Mhm, you did. And your speech was impressive. Though we will talk about how you ignore me, your senpai and [Queen]." She told him too sweetly to his liking. "Now, follow the plan and meet with Yuuto-kun. I'm going back to Rias" the [Queen] spread her wings and flew away.

He nodded to himself and sighed.

'Yep, there goes my plan to not make Akeno angry, I'm so going to pay for it later.' He moved his eyes to the sports court.

'The battle changes from the opening to the mid-game.' He thought as he started walking.

* * *

 **AN**

Yeah, I know, cutting in the middle of battle, gross... But I want to hear your opinions about my writing of fights before I write the rest. Is it good enough, bad or terrible? Should I change something? Add, remove? Let me know :)

I'll play clairvoyant and answer questions you may have.

1\. "Issei should be stronger and beat pawns easily"

The reason he is not: I don't want to make him war-machine who can singlehandedly defeat whole Riser's peerage... yet.

Excuses:

\- he doesn't know his strength, it was the first fight after "removing" the seal. And earlier he fought only against Kiba and Koneko who were much stronger than the pawns.

\- in fights against multiple opponents skill is worth more than power, and they are much harder than they may seem ("sum of the parts is greater than the whole" kind of thing) and he lacks both skill and experience so he needed more power to close a gap.

\- still not happy? Fine, they were stronger than in the canon, get over it already.

2\. "How was he able to defeat Yubelluna?"

He is that strong, in anger he used his all potential. In LN giving his arm to Ddraig made him strong enough to fight with Riser as his equal (not to beat him though, Holy Water was needed, but the whole phenex regeneration is bullcrap) and here he gave his wing plus it was before the training.

3\. "It looked like he should fall to juggernaut drive curse"

Yeah, that would be too soon.

Excuses:

\- he knew that Koneko was safe, in canon he thought that Asia died and it affected him more

\- he didn't care for Koneko as much, at this moment at least, as he did for Asia when JD happened

Any other questions? Review/PM me now or forever hold your peace.

(I'll explain more about Issei situation, powers and other effects of the deal after Rating Game. Or I'll let Ddraig do it at least)

Till the next time


	4. The battle ends

Whenever Issei told a story of his first Rating Game he always told how after he split with Akeno he met with Kiba and they walked together to the sports court talking about the game. He never mentioned how the [Knight] nearly caused him a heart attack appearing out of nowhere and grabbing his arm, or how the blond made their talk awkward claiming to be "the one who goes from "behind"", he would rather forget that part.

The sports court was guarded by one [Knight], one [Rook], and one [Bishop], three out of nine opponents left. They had only five members left, so they were still in disadvantage.

Before they got a chance to discuss their strategy they heard a woman voice.

"I'm the [Knight] of Raiser Phoenix-sama, Carlamaine! I've become bored of trying to sniff through each other's strategy! Rias Gremory's [Knight]! I challenge you to a duel!"

She was standing at the center of the baseball court, clad in armor holding a sheathed sword in front of her.

"Since she introduced herself, I can't hide myself both as a [Knight] and as a swordsman." Kiba said as he left her cover.

"That idiot..." Issei sighed following his friend.

They reached the woman and exchanged greetings, and after she praised their lack of sanity the [Knights] began their fight. Issei stood to the side not sure what to do; while he didn't agree with Kiba and he thought that accepting duel was stupid, he wasn't going to interject if only because it would kill the tension.

'Should I cheer him?' he wondered if that would make him look silly.

"You seem bored." he turned to the voice and saw a woman wearing a mask that just covers half of her face, Riser's [Rook].

"Geez, this only seems like a mud fight since both of them only thinks about swords, swords and swords. Carlamaine was making a bitter face when the [Pawns] were being sacrificed, so does she hate the battle strategy planned by her Master who happens to be her [King]? Furthermore, when I thought I found a cute boy, he also happens to be a sword freak so I can't stand this." girl who is wearing a dress like the ones worn by western princesses and has a drill-shaped hairstyle on both sides complained coming closer.

'Beautiful... She looks like a real princess' Issei thought stunned by her appearance. He notices how she was looking at him with weird eyes.

"Hmm. So this boy is the [Pawn] that Rias Gremory adores? Does that person have a bad taste in looking at gentleman?"

"Rude..." he whispered, her personality appeared to be opposite to her great looks ruining the impression he had of her.

"I will not lower myself to participate in this mud fight. Isabella, why don't you be his opponent?" She moved away after she got a confirmation from the [Rook].

"I was planning to in the first place. Now then, let's fight since we are both bored."

"Ah, yeah. That's okay, but isn't that [Bishop] going to fight?" Issei asked, his eyes still on the girl; he wondered why she decided to withdraw from what was supposed to be an important fight.

Hearing that question the masked woman put her hand on her forehead and made a troubled face.

"Ah, don't worry about her. That girl is special. She will be mostly observing for this fight as well."

"W-What the hell is that!?" Issei's mouth moved faster than his brain and he blabbed.

"She is—. No, that person is Ravel Phoenix. Raiser-sama's little sister. She became Raiser-sama's servant by using a special method, but she is Raiser-sama's actual sister. Now, here I come! Rias Gremory's [Pawn]!"

He moved to his side avoiding the attack still looking at the girl.

"One moment, please." he said to Isabella raising his hand to stop her "You're having sex with your brother?!" his brain was working overtime trying to decide what he thought about that.

"N-no! What makes you think that?! Who do you think you are to say something like that to me anyway?!" Ravel shouted, her face as red as Rias' hair from embarrassment and anger.

"Your brother called his peerage his harem, didn't he?" Issei tilted his head confused by her reaction.

"I-I... She told you I'm a special case!" she turned away with a 'hmph'.

Issei moved his eyes to the [Rook], who was standing to his left awkwardly, looking for an explanation.

"According to Raiser-sama, "Having your sister in your harem has a significant meaning. You know the significant view of having your close relatives? You know how there are people who look up to and also get jealous about it? Well, I'm not into little sisters, so I have her in my group as fashion."."

'Fashion? It's gross, not fashionable... Unless it's something different for devils. I'd love to have a little sister to spoil but placing her in harem seems wrong, it's supposed to be a different kind of relationship. That bird...' he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"I see. Sorry, I guess" he offered a smile to the girl but she only 'hmph' once more. He shrugged and turned his attention to the [Rook]. "Sorry I kept you waiting, let's start. Boosted Gear!"

[Boosted Gear second liberation]

Issei glimpsed at the gauntlet, it looked slightly different than before: there was the second jewel up on his arm, same as the one on his hand. However, he didn't get a chance to ask Ddraig what that means, because Isabella began her attack as soon as he summoned his Sacred Gear.

He barely dodged her attacks troubled by her fighting style: she was a [Rook] but for him that fight felt more like his sparrings with Kiba than with Koneko; partially because she was taller than her, but mostly because she used her arms similar to the way the [Knight] was using his swords. Her punches were coming from unpredictable places and angles and whenever he thought he avoided one of them completely it came back like a whip not giving him a chance to counter.

He was so focused on dodging her arms that he forgot that they aren't the only way the [Rooks] can attack. He was remained of that by a quick yet powerful kick to the stomach followed by a hook, which sent him to the ground.

[Reset]

'Damn, that hurt like hell and it stopped my boosting' he thought standing up.

"Is that all you've got?" the [Rook] taunted.

"I'm not dead yet." Issei responded flatly.

"I see. Sorry, I was taking you lightly, but to tell you the truth, I thought I got you when my kick hit you… Looks like Rias Gremory has been training you well. Especially your stamina is magnificent. It seems I have to try harder, so I'll put one gear, no, I will increase by two gears then!"

Issei looked at his opponent with teary eyes.

'She's not making fun of me... quite the opposite in fact. She praised me. Me! Not the gauntlet or the dragon inside!' he ignored the fact that part of his power is coming from his/Ddraig wings focusing on the training he did with Buchou's help.

'That's the spirit. Wake up those flames inside you and fight' Ddraig thought not saying anything to not ruin his partner moment.

"…Looks like I said something unnecessary. I felt your pressure increase."

"[Rook] Isabella, thank you. You have no idea how much those words mean to me. I am the weakest and the least experienced member of Rias Gremory-sama's group. But still, I will defeat you and your [King]!"

Their talk was interrupted by pieces of Kiba's now broken sword hitting the ground nearby. In unspoken agreement, they decided to extend the pause and they turned to see what the [Knights] were doing.

"Your sword of darkness is no match for my blade" Carlamaine smirked and pointed her sword covered in flames at Kiba who only shrugged and smiled still keeping the handle from the broken sword in hand.

"That's fine, it's not everything of my Sacred Gear. Freeze!"

The temperature dropped around them and it would seem that it was caused by the ice gathered around Kiba's arm piling up and taking the shape of the sword.

"In front of this sword, "Flame Delete", all types of fire will disappear."

'Ice sword? Sword against the fire? That's great, Kiba! But since when you have it? I've never seen it' Issei thought shocked.

"A-Absurd! Are you telling me that you have two Sacred Gears!?" Riser's [Knight] yelled attacking the boy who simply raised his weapon and parried.

The instant Carlamaine's sword touched Kiba's sword, the flame sword started to freeze and turned into a solid. When the ice reached the middle of the blade it broke and disappeared.

"We are the members of the all mighty House of Phoenix that rule over fire and wind! Taste it! The whirlwind of fire!" she screamed creating said whirlwind with her and Kiba in the middle of it. Blows of hot wind reached the edge of the baseball court where Issei and Isabella were standing.

"That Carlamaine. Has she forgotten that her allies are here as well!?" Isabella comments, while using her arm to guard her face.

Young dragon was so preoccupied with the flames that he didn't notice Ravel observing him with a frown.

'Isabella is a [Rook] resurrected by my brother piece giving her resistance to heat and she still is troubled by it while he just stands there like it's nothing, he doesn't even sweat! That [Pawn] is hiding something, we can't underestimate him.' She used her transmitter to contact her brother and inform him of the situation.

Kiba calmly watched his sword melting down, he didn't seem bothered by fire-tornado around him.

"I see, you are trying to burn us with the whirlwind of fire… But it's vain attempt. -Stop!"

The wind was sucked into Kiba's sword and the baseball ground becomes silent.

"Replenish Calm". It's been a while since I last showed more than two demonic swords for one battle."

"I think we've seen enough, don't you, Rias Gremory's [Pawn]?" Isabella took a fighting stance and gave Issei the look that said 'I'm not going to wait much longer'.

"Just Issei is fine, but you're right, we have our fight to continue. Boosted Gear!"

[Boost!]

He leaped forward with a new strategy in mind. Since keeping the distance from the [Rook] turned out to be pointless, as she effortlessly managed to stay close enough to keep him in range of her attacks and it gave her enough place to make powerful swings,

the plan was rather simple: stick as close to her as possible and keep her busy so she can't perform them.

Isabella was surprised by the sudden attack, but shocked expression on her face quickly morphed into a wide grin. True, she barely felt anything from his punches and kicks, but she couldn't let her guard down, after all, her opponent was unique; all he needed was a moment of inattention, just one opening and with a simple word he could change one of those weak attacks into a fatal blow. It was her turn to be troubled by opponent's fighting style, she wasn't used to fighting with someone whose objective wasn't exactly to win but rather to buy time. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the challenge it offered.

Issei on his part was glad that he trained with Koneko so much. He managed to adapt her fighting style to his needs in this battle quite easily, and while his version wasn't as destructive and effective it allowed him to follow his plan.

This game of cat and mouse, in which Isabella was trying to gain some distance and Issei was keeping as close as he could, went for enough time for Boosted Gear to announce third [Boost] making the [Rook] anxious. She noticed that his punches were half-hearted but couldn't tell how much he was holding back nor how much power he would really gain when he will use [Explosion]. She was running out of time and she couldn't do anything about it with him almost hugging her.

 **'Partner, roll left!'** Ddraig shouted inside Issei mind. Now, normally, when voices in your head tell you to do something, you don't and you go to a psychiatrist, however, if the voice happens to belong to the spirit of Welsh Dragon sealed in your Sacred Gear, who seems to be on your side, you should follow instructions and so did Issei. Unfortunately, since he had never mastered or even learned Witchers' art of rolling away, he ended up face first in the dirt just outside the court. He quickly rolled to his back and raised his armored arm to shoot anyone who may attack him, but there was no one.

He turned to face Isabella, expecting her to laugh at him, and froze at the sight of another woman in front of the [Rook]. She was a tall young woman with long black hair wearing a white top with black accents, red shorts, and armored, knee-high boots with matching gauntlets. But it wasn't her presence or appearance that caused his reaction, it was her sword; it was massive, had a black blade with silver edges, but most importantly it passed right through space he was occupying mere moments ago and went straight into Isabella's stomach. If it wasn't for Ddraigs warning he would be the one pierced by it.

'T-thanks Ddraig'

 **'You're welcome, Partner. Taking advantage of the moment here's the cliff notes about [Second Liberation]. It's the final form of Boosted Gear, not counting Balance Braker, also known as the Gift from the Red Dragon Emperor. It allows you to transfer increased power to other objects, spells or people.'** the dragon quickly explained changes in the gauntlet.

"S-Siris... why..." Isabella spoke weakly.

"It was an accident, I was trying to backstab him, how could I know he would jump to the side at the last second?"

Issei slowly stood up and looked around the field. There were three new women besides the one with the sword, but none paid any attention to him, all gathered around wounded [Rook]. It was a bad situation for Gremory's servants; they were outnumbered again and if they couldn't finish their fights before reinforcement came it will be almost impossible now.

"Here, use this." Ravel said tossing the same looking vial that Riser's [Queen] tried to use. She must have noticed Issei's gaze because she turned to him.

"That is a vial of Phoenix's Tear. Have you heard of it? Our tears can heal all types of injuries. And don't even say it's cheating. Your group also has a person who possesses the "Twilight Healing", correct?

Now, allow me to introduce the newcomers.

The woman with a sword is Onii-sama's other [Knight], Siris. Unlike Carlamaine over there, she doesn't have any of that "honor of a knight". She will defeat her opponent. Just like that. The woman wearing a kimono is Mihae, Onii-sama's other [Bishop], and the girls with cat ears are Ni and Li, Onii-sama's [Pawns]. They are female beast warriors. Their hand to hand combat is remarkable you know."

"No, I meant why did you interfere with our duel? He was, no he is my opponent!" now healed Isabella screamed at the [Knight].

"I was told to eliminate him as soon as I can, besides, who cares?! It is a war, not a duel." Siris shrugged.

Issei was moving his eyes between the two arguing women. On the one hand, he agreed with Siris, he even called Kiba an idiot for accepting the duel instead of trying to be sneaky. On the other, he would lie if he said he didn't enjoy his fight with the [Rook] and the [Knight] ruined it.

"Hey, [Pawn]-kun over there." Ravel said getting his attention again. She was pointing very high at the sky.

"Raiser-sama said he's going to fight your princess one-on-one. See there."

Issei followed her gesture and saw only the shadows above the rooftop of the new school building, but even from the distance he clearly saw crimson hair.

'Buchou? What is going on?'

[Ise-san! Can you hear me, Ise-san!?] Asia's voice came out from the transceiver.

"Asia! What happened? Is it about Buchou?"

[Yes. Right now I'm with Buchou-san and Akeno-san on the school rooftop. The opponent, Raiser-san, challenged Buchou to a duel and Buchou-san accepted it! Thanks to that we were able to get into the school building without any problem…]

"Seems like Onii-sama made a challenge since Rias-sama was doing well in the battle unexpectedly. It would have been our win if we fought normally, so he gave her pity. At this rate, she will be defeated before you fight him."

Issei lowered his head, his bangs covered his eyes, his whole body was trembling.

"I should be there with Buchou" [Boost] he started slowly walking to the center of baseball court.

"I made a promise" [Boost] his Sacred Gear announced next boost before the ten seconds mark.

"I promised her I would defeat the [King] and give her her freedom back" [Boost]

"And how am I supposed to do this if I cannot defeat a bloody [Rook]!" he shouted raising his head, his eyes once again were glowing green.

"What are you waiting for? Attack him!" Ravel ordered her brother servants terrified by a sudden increase in [Pawn's] power.

Despite Ravel being a [Bishop] was the highest authority in Riser's peerage in absence of the [King]. Hearing her command other girls immediately moved into action; Mihae conjured magic circle to prepare her attack, Ni and Li rushed forward with Siris just behind them. Isabella reluctantly followed her allies; while she wasn't happy with how the event went she wasn't going to oppose her master's sister's orders.

Issei ignored the pieces in front of him and dashed forward disappearing from their sight.

"Release your Sacred Gear, Kiba."

Everyone turned to the voice direction only to see young dragon standing near the middle of the field, his back turned to the opponents and his armored arm placed on his friend shoulder. He was watching fireball colliding with thunder creating massive explosion over the school roof.

Kiba cursed under his breath. After learning about Holy Sword wielder he was so focused on his battle that he didn't even realize more of Riser's servants came to the baseball court. He glanced at his friend confused by his calm demeanor, he was chased by four warriors and one more was preparing a magic attack but he wasn't paying them any attention focused on battle taking place elsewhere.

The [Knight] wasn't sure what the [Pawn] was expecting from him, but there wasn't time for questions. He stabbed his sword into the ground trusting that Issei had a plan.

"Sword Birth!"

"Gift" [Transfer!]

The ground around them rumbled and the sound of metal rumbling violently echoed through the area as countless blades emerged from it turning the whole court into a sea of swords pointing to the sky.

"…Impossible."

"Are you telling me this is also the power of the Dragon…?"

That were the last words of Riser's servants before they disappeared in the flash of light.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's two [Pawns], two [Knights], one [Bishop], and one [Rook], retires.]

"You did it, Kiba. You eliminated them all." Issei said still facing the school building.

"No, we did it, Issei-kun. *cough*" Kiba fell on his knees.

Issei turned to his friend alarmed by his coughing blood and saw a deep cut on his chest. It wasn't fatal, but the [Knight] clearly needed help. Fast.

"Come on, Kiba, stay with me. We have o get you to Asia."

"There's no time for that. Go to Buchou, I would only slow you down" Kiba responded summoning small dagger in his hand.

"I'm not leaving you here!" Issei shouted trying to get his friend back on his feet.

"I know, but she needs you more. Go, save Buchou" Yuuto smiled weakly before stabbing himself with the dagger just below the ribcage.

[Rias Gremory-sama's one Knight retires]

"You idiot..." Issei sighed suddenly feeling exhausted. With adrenaline effect wearing off he again felt all the pain from the hits he received. His palms were sweaty, arms were heavy, knees weak, he could barely stand, he was fighting the urge to fall asleep right there in the arena.

"Not yet... One more fight... I can't give up now."

He tried to move, but his legs betrayed him. He fell on all four breathing heavily, his heart pounding like a jackhammer. He used all of his stamina for that last attack, and no amount of boosts could change that.

His vision became blurry, colors began to pale, blood poured from his mouth; it was the end, his body was giving up and he would pass out any moment now.

"Are you still going to continue to fight?" he turned to the voice using it as his anchor in the world of the living. It was Ravel, she was flying in the sky with her wings of fire. He stood up and tried to take a stance, but it was pitiful attempt; he couldn't even raise his arms.

"I'm not going to fight you. Because no matter how you think about it, it's your group's loss." She turned to the school building.

"The "Crimson-hair Ruin-princess", "Priestess of Lightning", "Sword Birth", and "Boosted Gear". Just hearing the names gives me chills. But your opponent is the "immortal bird". No matter what kind of power you have, it means nothing against the immortal bird.

Even with the power of the Dragon from earlier. It certainly was something tremendous. To transfer the power you boosted to the person you choose. I think it's an abnormal power and thinking of Rias-sama's power of destruction and "Priestess of Lightning" power's rising scares me. That power would be a threat to the High-class Devils in the Rating Game in the future. —But it's your group's loss for this battle."

She turned back only to see him gone. Well, gone was an exaggeration; he moved just a few steps in direction of the school building.

"H-Hold on! Are you ignoring me!? You are going to lose anyway so it's safer to stay here with me!?"

Issei didn't react visually to her words, he had one simple goal in mind. One small step at the time he forced his body to obey his command, he forced his stiff muscles to work, to move his body to his destination.

"If you want to talk..." one more step "Meet me after the battle..." and another "Right now... I don't have the time"

Ravel watched the [Pawn] walking away, amazed by his will to continue fighting.

"If you can reach them in time, you deserve to be eliminated by my Onii-sama"

* * *

[Rias Gremory-sama's [Queen] retires]

"Rias, resign. You will make your Otou-sama and Sirzechs-sama who are watching from another place look bad. You have no more choices. Everyone already has foreseen the outcome. —It's checkmate, Rias."

"Shut your mouth, Raiser. I won't give up! They knew the outcome? I have no more choices? Me, the [King], is still active you know?" Rias shouted throwing a ball of Power of Destruction at Riser.

He just stood there, laughing, his flames regenerating destroyed face.

Gremory heiress annoyance with Phenex reached a new high. When he challenged her to the duel she expected him to fight, but all he did was just taking any attack they threw at him, taunting and mocking her all the way through, occasionally throwing a fireball to intercept thunderstrike or a ball of Power of Destruction, just to show that he could.

Even when Akeno showed up with Asia ignoring her orders he just laughed and praised the [Queen's] allowing her to participate, but made no moves attack her until she mocked his all peerage being retired leaving him alone. He didn't care about that, claiming that he is more than enough to face Rias' entire peerage, but Akeno wounded his pride and paid the price.

"Buchou! Hyoudou Issei, here at your service!"

"Issei..." when she turned to her servant words stuck in her throat. He looked terrible, his face was pale, blood was pouring from his mouth and he was leaning against the door frame to support his shaking legs.

"The Dragon-brat, huh. That Ravel, she let him pass huh." Riser clicked his tongue.

"Asia, please heal him." Rias took a position to protect her servants.

"Go ahead, heal him. It won't change anything. The Boosted Gear's ability exhausts the possessor more than you can imagine. Doubling your power is something very abnormal. The burden it puts on the body is several times higher than the ordinary Sacred Gear. Rias, your [Pawn] already reached your limit a long time ago."

Issei sighed in relief, Asia's Sacred Gear was doing wonders to his body making the pain disappear. Unfortunately, it couldn't restore his stamina, but it should be enough, he could fight.

"Buchou. The battle continues right?"

"Ise, don't... you're wounded too much, retire and get a proper treatment. Leave the fight to me."

"NO! I promised you... I won't give up, I can still fight. I can continue fighting as long as I can crunch my fist! I won't leave you alone!"

"Ise I... Thank you... Ise, let's defeat Raiser together!"

"Promotion! [Queen]!" power flow through his body but it wasn't pleasant feeling this time. His whole body was burning, screaming at him that it's too much for it to handle. He didn't care, he moved forward to attack.

"Show me what you've got, Dragon-boy!" Riser spread his fings of fire and rose above the roof and throw a fireball at Issei.

'You heard him, Ddraig. Give me your strength!'

Silence.

'Ddraig?'

Fireball almost reached him.

 **'I'm sorry, Partner'**

[Rias Gremory-sama's [Pawn of eight] retires]

* * *

*VIP room*

In the VIP room were five devils: Riser's parents, Rias' parents, and her brother Sirzechs Lucifer. They were watching events from the arena on big screens and both Lord Phenex and Lord Gremory were commenting jauntily while the rest kept quiet.

"What a shame, it took only one of my son's fireballs to defeat that boy." Lord Phenex said disappointedly.

"Shame indeed. I was hoping he would show us great fight with Riser after he defeated Yubelluna so quickly, but it seems your son's fireball was too much for him." Lord Gremory agreed.

"No." Everyone turned to Lucifer who was watching the replay with a frown. "There were two explosions and he retired before the fireball hit him."

"Lord Lucifer, are you suggesting that Riser cheated?" Lord Phenex asked trying to sound polite but anger was clear in his voice. Sirzechs moved his head to face Phenex, his usual charming smile instantaneously back on his face.

"Of course not, I know that Riser-kun wouldn't cheat to win. But that leaves the question; what happened down there."

Devils turned their attention back to the screens just in time to see Riser forcing Rias to retire by threatening to burn her [Bishop] alive.

"I'm going to Ajuka, maybe he knows more about what happened."

It was at this moment Phenex knew... His son fucked up. It wasn't because of Lucifer's ever-friendly voice or easy-going smile still present on his face, but because of his eyes. They were full of disgust and Phenex knew that this was over, but not in a way the result of the game may suggest.


	5. New opportunity

**WARNING! TWO CHAPTERS WERE ADDED**

* * *

Issei opened his eyes in a strange place he didn't recognize. Close to him, it looked almost normal, a flat field of grass with nothing on it: no flowers or bushes just low mowed grass. When he looked around he was sure he wasn't in the real world; he could ignore the fact that tufts of grass all looked exactly the same as if someone took one and copied it all over the field or that trees on horizon looked like badly placed texture in video game, but what broke the illusion was the sky. Similar to Rating Game arena it was pure white, there weren't any clouds or even the sun, yet it was bright like you would expect during noon.

He knew he wasn't in arena anymore as there was nothing except him and grass, but he had no idea where he was. Before he could put too much thought into it silence was broken by the sound of flapping wings. He turned to face the direction from which the sound came and saw a large red western dragon flying towards him, it looked exactly like the form Ddraig showed him during his introduction and seemed to be close, but as it got bigger and bigger he realized that the dragon is not that close just that large and lack of perspective in this place made it appeared closer than it was. And so, he waited, getting angrier with any passing second until the dragon finally landed in front of him.

"Ddraig... what the fuck? You promised me your power, why did you back off on your end of the deal?" Issei asked the dragon, who indeed was Welsh Dragon, anger clear in his voice.

 **"You would die..."**

"I don't care! I promised Buchou I would beat Phenex and I promised myself that I would do that no matter the cost! And you..." Issei continued walking closer to the newcomer.

 **"Shut up and listen, hatchling!"** Ddraig shouted making devil stumble and stop his rant. **"You wouldn't beat Phenex, a matter of fact you wouldn't beat anyone as you would die the exact moment I would grant you my power! You barely survived that whole [Promotion] thing and I thought you would prefer living past that fight rather than exploding into pieces back there. Was I wrong?"**

Silence fell into them, Issei was glaring at the dragon not sure how to respond, his anger slowly fading away as he realized that Ddraig has done nothing wrong.

"Yes... I mean no... it's just *sigh* I lost, I failed her, and it is all my fault. How can I go back to her after that?" he slumped on the ground depressed

 **"Yes, you lost. But you are alive so it's not over yet. Learn from your failure, improve and return stronger to show the world your power. Don't fret over one defeat, focus on fights to come instead."**

"What fights, Ddraig? If we lost, it's over. Buchou will have to marry this asshole and there is nothing I can do."

 **"Stop feeling sorry for yourself! I told you already, you are not dead and it's not over. So stop grumbling about the past and start thinking about the future. You are a dragon, start acting like one, for Great Red's sake. If you don't like the situation you are in step up and change it."**

"It's easy for you to say, you were one of the strongest beings in the world, I am nobody. If I go there and demand anything they'll laugh not yield to me."

 **"*sigh*Why do I have to repeat everything to you? You are Red Dragon Emperor, the force whole world needs to reckon with."**

"No, you told me that I have potential to become one, but I don't need potential, right now I need pure power. And you also said that I am your weakest host in history, weaker than a guy who couldn't walk!"

 **"Ah, him."** the dragon chuckled **"Don't worry about him too much, I might have skipped the details."**

"Huh?" the devil looked puzzled, what kind of details could change his perception of that previous Ddraig's host?

 **"He was actually one of my strongest hosts. He lost his ability to walk in an accident before he unlocked the Boosted Gear, but he gained some sort of ability to see numbers describing the world around him. Don't ask me, I don't understand it either, but it's not important right now. The point is, he never let his disability get the better of him and became one of the best magicians of his time. You should take an example from him; instead of stopping to whine how weak you are, move forward, focus on your pros or eliminate your cons if possible."**

"What pros, Ddraig? I suck at magic, I don't have a talent for swords or hand-to-hand combat."

 **"What makes you say that, hm Partner? Your life as a regular human teenager or 9 days of training? Rome wasn't built in a day so stop comparing yourself to the people who have been devils much longer than you and probably spend most of their life training. Besides, your performance in this battle says otherwise."**

"What do you mean? I was retired by just one fireball!"

 **"Actually, you were retired before that fireball touched you, but I was referring to earlier fights, especially with that mage, bird's [Queen] I believe."**

"Wait, what do you mean by that? If it wasn't fireball then what?"

 **"I told you already, you barely survived that [Promotion] thing; your body couldn't handle this sudden change in power and you passed out."**

"And you say I'm not weak; I don't even need an opponent to be retired... About the fight with the [Queen], I don't remember it, do you know why?"

 **"Yes, I'll explain it in the moment alongside the whole promised explanation of your situation, but first: do you want to see that fight?"** Ddraig grinned and cocked his head to the sky not waiting for a response.

Issei followed the gesture and noticed that part of the sky turned glass-like and formed something akin square screen displaying Koneko lying on the ground.

"Is that my memory?!" he asked the dragon who only nodded in silence.

He returned his attention to the screen and watched events from Rating Game in disbelieve. He turned back to Ddraig.

"I... I did that? Why don't I remember it then?"

 **"Yes, you did. And why don't you remember? It's a side effect of your changes. Sit down and relax while I'll explain everything.**

 **First your body. Due to dragon power circulating in it you have to adapt. Your bones and skin will become harder and muscles will become stronger. You'll get more lung capacity and you'll become immune to all poisons with two exceptions, namely poison made by other dragons and Samael blood, but I doubt you'll encounter any of them. You'll also become partially immune to fire, no flames weaker than yours will burn you. Your magic resistance will improve greatly but you'll be more susceptible to dragon slaying weapons. Those are changes I'm sure of, but there may be more due to how the wings were a manifestation of your devil side and the fact that your dragon fire is fused with your demonic energy which builds your body. Worst or best scenario, depending on your perspective, your body may change to humanoid-dragon. You know, scales, claws, fangs, maybe you'll grow a tail, or even go fully dragon.**

 **Second your senses. Dragons are the best predators in the world and our senses are part of the reason why. There are species, youkai mostly, who can rival or surpass dragons in one but no one is even close in all of them."**

The large dragon looked like he was daydreaming and the devil looked like a child listening to his grandfather telling a story, although there were some shock and uncertainty on his face due to Ddraig words.

 **"You'll see further and in more details, enough to spot a single sheep flying miles above it. You'll be able to track it in complete darkness as you'll be able to see heat coming from its body or tracks it left. Or simply forget about your eyes and focus on smell and sound, after all, you'll be able to hear its muscles move on the other side of a mountain or follow its scent in a mix of other smells in a forest. I think you got the picture, right Partner? Dragon's touch is just as good as you would expect from a creature with scales and claws and I never cared enough to compare the taste with others.**

 **Next your mind. Don't worry, you won't become someone completely different but you might find yourself thinking more like a dragon does. Bottom line, you'll be susceptible to rage and you may have a hard time controlling your emotions, but that should pass with time. By the way, that's the reason you don't remember that fight, you let the rage control you; you should work on that or you'll fell to the Juggernaut Drive curse which is fueled by your negative emotions, but back to original topic. You'll value your freedom and pride more and you'll become more possessive, especially about your treasure. You'll also enjoy the presence of Dragon Tamers, it will be calming to you and you'll feel need to protect them. That should be all... no, wait. You'll draw powerful enemies who will want to challenge you, but you'll also draw the attention of the opposite sex. And that is all, any questions?"** Ddraig finally finished his explanation.

"No, it's rather simple: I'll become dragon-like arrogant asshole lying on my pile of gold waiting for people to challenge me to fight..." Issei sighed, not really a pleasant thought.

 **"So that is what you think about me, Partner?"**

Issei paled. While Ddraig seemed like a good guy angering a spirit living inside you and technically owning your wings was definitely a terrible idea. To his relieve the dragon only laughed.

 **"Yeah, back when I had my body this wouldn't be far off, not the gold part though, that is Fafnir's thing, he is not called 'Golden Dragon Monarch' just because of his scales color. But you are also wrong, there's a difference between being proud and prideful even if the line between them is thin. Also, a dragon treasure is not necessarily gold or other valuables; it's something most important to you, something for protecting it you'll be willing to give your life or even pride. For example, Tannin's treasure is the dragon race and he became Mephisto Pheles' servant to acquire territory in Underworld for dragons to live and cultivate dragon apples. And you shouldn't just lie down and wait, you should train and prepare for those challenges."**

"Good to know, still... growing scales? There goes my plan to stay as human looking as possible. *sigh* At least I won't have to go back to school, that's something I guess... Anyway, Ddraig, back in Rating Game you said I may die before the game is over. I am alive, I think, so what is my prognosis?"

There was a long pause before dragon answered.

 **"I'm not sure, Partner. Currently, you are in a hospital and your situation is stable, but... You've learned chain reaction in school, right? That's what is happening to you; cells in your body are reacting to dragon energy and they are slowly starting to produce that energy on their own increasing the stress on your body. It never happened before and I don't know enough of devil's anatomy to predict its effects properly, you'll have to find someone with more knowledge about that stuff if you want a better diagnosis. That being said, I'm sure about two things: the stronger your body the better it can handle this changes, so I suggest to find a powerful dragon to train you in the real world. Worst case scenario, it would allow me to alter more of your body directly. Second thing is that if you decide to cash out our deal and use my power in form of incomplete [Balance Braker] it will accelerate the reaction lowering your chances of survival."**

After Ddraig finished his explanation the space around them became silent again. Issei was sitting on the grass clearly lost in his thoughts and dragon lied his head on his claws waiting patiently. But since dragons are not patient in nature it lasted only about a minute before he spoke.

 **"You good, Partner?"**

"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in."

 **"We still have one more thing to discuss, namely: your fire."**

"Please tell me it's something good, I can't take more of bad news"

 **"Yeah, it's good, don't worry. Like I told you before, your demonic energy was fused with your dragon fire as a result of changing your wings. Did you notice how your demonic energy looked like it was burning when you summoned it to perform that attack against the [Queen]? Well, it kind of was; it was your dragon fire showing up. This works both ways: you can't use your demonic energy without your dragon fire, but you can use it to change the properties of the flames and create a powerful combination of two elements."**

"Huh? What do you mean?"

 **"How to explain it... That blonde [Knight] Sacred Gear, Sword Birth, can create any demonic sword, right? You can do similar thing with your flames"**

"Are you saying I can make a fire that acts like a water and stop Phenex' flames?!"

 **"That's exactly what I'm saying, Partner, although I would suggest ice over water. NorseFire Dragon, Elsha Laevateinn, one of your predecessors, did something similar with her magic and it was really effective against fire-based attacks." dragon smiled seeing life returning to his host expression.**

"That is amazing! How do I do it?"

 **"Beats me, you are a devil here and it's your fire not one of Boosted Gear abilities. Take your time, practice it here, I'll take a nap."**

"Ddraig, before you go to sleep, where is 'here' exactly?"

 **"Inside your mindscape, soul or Boosted Gear, it's all connected and unimportant. Your consciousness was thrown here when you pass out *yawn*. Anything else?"**

"If we are inside my mind why is it so empty?"

Ddraig only grinned in response.

"Oh shut up! I mean, if we are inside my mind shouldn't it be filled with oppai, porn and stuff like that?"

 **"This space was created by your subconscious, not your perverted desires."** dragon sighed.

"I see. Thanks, Ddraig, sleep well"

Issei immediately started working on bringing this ice-fire combination into life. Summoning fire was almost natural to him, he's done it before and apparently removing the seal made it even easier. Learning how to control it took few minutes after which flames followed his every command without quarrel. However, adding ice to the mix was a different kettle of fish.

Every time he tried thinking of ice flames paled and disappeared. He tried it with water but the effect didn't change and after what felt like hours and countless tries he was nowhere close to success.

'Oh come on! How hard can it be to mix two opposite elements with each other. ...I am an idiot. This whole time I was trying to change flames into ice not mix them...'

With that realization, it didn' take long to summon blueish-white flames. He was staring at them in awe thinking how to test them. Summoning two different kinds of fire at the same time was beyond his abilities, the grass in this place seemed to be fireproof and he was sure he wasn't going to wake up Ddraig.

With a sigh, he took off his shirt hoping it would burn and thankfully it did. At least for a short moment before his ice-flames ate that fire.

He trained a while longer until he was satisfied with his level of control over those flames; he could cast a fireball made of them, create a wave or coat his arms in flames or even his whole body, but that last one was very tiring and he couldn't see through flames.

After he finished he finally allowed himself to think about one important detail: 'what is he going to do with them'. The Rating Game was over and despite Ddraig's words, he was sure challenging Riser was out of the question.

'I could skip the whole 'challenge' part and simply attack him, but it wouldn't change anything or would make things even worse... Unless I'll kill him... There cannot be a wedding without a groom... But I can't kill him, can I?... There probably will be some consequences for Gremory family but they can blame me, say the truth: that I acted on my own and they didn't know anything... Sure, I'll be labeled as Stray but I'm dying anyway so...'

Before he made a conclusion his thoughts were broken by the reality around him shaking. He looked at Ddraig to see if he woke up and saw the dragon looking at him.

 **"It appears you are waking up. The quick thing before that, the time here sometimes flows differently than in the real word, slower or faster depends on the situation. What felt like few hours in here equals almost two days there and in that time your body kept producing energy which you may not be able to contain. Destroying the hospital doesn't seem like a good decision so here's the plan. There is a window to your left, go for it and fly as far away as you can before that energy explodes from your body. Now, close your eyes and wake up"** Ddraig chuckled slightly at his last words. Issei simply nodded and followed instruction.

* * *

Grayfia Lucifuge was waiting in the hospital room where Sekiryuutei was admitted and she was losing hope in the success of her husband and master, Sirzechs Lucifer, plan to stop the wedding. It was two days after the Rating Game, the ceremony was about to start and the [Pawn] was still unconscious. The worst part was that according to the doctors he was perfectly fine, there was nothing that healing magic or phoenix tears could help with, yet he still didn't wake up and no one knew why.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open and he jumped out of the bed right through the window breaking the glass, spread his wings and flew away from the building.

Grayfia moved to the window ready to fly after the young devil but was stopped by a shockwave that shook the building thankfully not breaking anything.

She watched the boy fell into the fountain beneath him, smashing it to pieces. She also jumped out of the window and walked to him, looking at his wings. They were one of the dragons, not bat-like he should have as Reincarnated Devil. To her knowledge, the boy was human before reincarnation and while he possessed dragon type Sacred Gear there weren't any records of it granting its host wings, besides those wings looked more natural than White Dragon Emperor's Light Wings. She took a mental note to inform Lucifer about this and stood over the young devil, who was still lying in the fountain ruins groaning in pain and appeared unaware of her presence.

"Hyoudou Issei-sama." hearing her voice Issei stopped groaning and turned to face her.

"Grayfia-san! The match? What happened to Buchou!?"

"Raiser-sama won the match. Rias-ojousama resigned."

Issei didn't respond, instead, he looked down. Grayfia was surprised seeing him crying and blaming himself in whispers, but she kept her emotionless mask and continued.

"Currently, the engagement party for Ojou-sama and Raiser-sama is taking place. It's at the assembly hall in the Underworld that was prepared by the House of Gremory."

"So it's too late to stop it..."

"Stop it? You do know that Rias-ojousama obeyed the family's decision? Can't you come to agree with this?"

"I don't care, I don't even know them. I care for Buchou and she doesn't want to marry him!"

"Fufufu. You are a very interesting person. For a long time I have seen many Devils, however, it is my first time seeing someone like you who shows what you are thinking with your face, and acts accordingly to what you believe in. My master, Sirzechs-sama, was watching your effort in the battle from another place and said that you were "interesting" you know?"

Issei was shocked, both by seeing the maid smile and by Lucifer taking interest in him.

Grayfia took out a single paper with a magic-circle written on it and handed it to the boy.

"This magic-circle allows you teleport to the hall of the engagement party of the House of Gremory and House of Phoenix." smile disappeared from her face as she continued "I have a message from Sirzechs-sama for you. [If you want to save my sister, barge into the hall]. That's what he said. There is also another magic-circle on the back of the paper. Please use it when you take back Ojou-sama. I am definitely sure that it will be useful to you. "

Issei bowed to the maid with a smile.

"Thank you, Grayfia-san. I'll better get going before it's really too late"

"Issei-sama, you can't go there like that." she said pointing to his body. Only then Issei noticed he was completely naked and blushed madly. Grayfia snapped her fingers making circle appeared beneath him, dressing him in usual Kuoh Academy uniform.

"Before you go, that explosion. What caused it?"

Issei stopped for a moment before answering; he didn't want to lie but he felt like it wasn't the time for the truth.

"I'm not sure. It has something to do with removing the seal on my body; it had to adjust to new power level causing it to produce more energy I could safely handle. Or something like that."

The maid didn't ask anything more and the [Pawn] used the magic circle to teleport to the hall.

"No, Issei-sama, it won't be a problem, I'll take care of the damages, you didn't have to ask." Grayfia spoke to no one in a sarcastic voice fixing the fountain and the window. "Why did I become a maid... Oh, right I was bored... *sigh* Now is not a time for this, I have to take that nun home"

* * *

 **AN**

Writing second part of the battle I understood why people tend to make changes big or/and fast. I was stuck with either "I can't post that, it almost a copy of canon" or "I can't post that, I've changed too much". Anyway, I hope I made things enjoyable while not making it completely new Issei and company.

Explanations to some events:

1\. Kiba. "Why did he stabbed himself? He was in better condition than Issei."

He was ashamed of himself and losing his mind due to the news of holy sword wielder. And keep in mind that from his perspective Issei was perfectly fine, he saw himself as a liability, not an asset.

2\. Akeno. I wanted to give her more love, but I didn't want to rob Kiba of his moment or drag the battle unnecessary long. Originally she was defeated by Yubelluna, here by Riser but... I didn't feel like writing the fight for her to ultimately lose.

3\. Issei

a) his increase in strength. His power comes from fire. Imagine bonfire; all nice and comfy until someone throws a bottle of gasoline into it. Same thing here, adding fuel (rage) caused his power to raise.

b) his condition. The same fire that gives him strength is destroying his body. While it was fueled by rage and adrenaline was pumping through his body, he was fine. When it calmed down he felt its effects.

4\. Riser. "Why would he do something like that?" He was becoming desperate. His all peerage eliminated, he was alone against the "Crimson-hair Ruin-princess". "But he didn't show any signs of that" you might say, and I agree. But isn't that the point? Phenex regeneration is told to be absolute and their only weakness is their mind. Don't you think Riser knows that? That he learned how to conceal any signs of his mind breaking? That he hides behind the mask of an arrogant asshole and appears unaffected by his opponents' attacks while the reality is different? Proof? After losing to Issei during their duel he locked himself in his room. Do you really think it was caused by one lost battle and not by some deeper issues buried inside? Well, I used it in the story, so...

5\. Issei's fire. I didn't plan to make it fire version of Sword Birth, but I am not blind to similarities.

Simplified thought process:

make him a dragon - fuse his demonic energy with his dragon fire - "fire so cold that it burns" - what else I can do - damn, it's just like Sword Birth... - well, at least it will be easy to explain...

Other questions? Review or PM me :)

Originally fight with Riser was supposed to happen in RG but I think that way it works better. Issei had a chance to learn about his fire and I got an idea how to use him being unknowingly engaged with Rias. Now I just have to find a way to kick Riser out of his room without destroying the timeline...

I'll post Issei character sheet after a chapter or two when I'll be done with most changes.

Next chapter: fight with Riser, I can't avoid it any longer (or can I?) and... Nah, read to find out.

Till the next time


	6. Dragon vs Phoenix

Issei teleported right in front of a gigantic open door leading into a massive hall. Inside were lots of Devils who were dressed up and were having a good time. It looked similar to the high society parties of humans he saw in the movies, everything looked exquisite and the hall was beautifully decorated.

He walked inside and headed for the center of the hall astonished by his surroundings.

'So this is the hall people from Buchou's household organized. Oh my, rich people sure are amazing. I want to get my peerage quickly and become someone important. But that can wait, now...' he thought as he reached the middle of the hall unbothered by anyone and saw a woman who was dressed in a fancy red dress, had her crimson hair tied up, and looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. The woman he was looking for, his master, Rias Gremory.

"To all the High-class Devils here! And Buchou's brother, Maou-sama! I am Sekiryuutei Hyoudou Issei! I have arrived to take back Buchou, Rias Gremory-sama!" he declared so loud that it echoes throughout the hall, silencing the Devils gathered in the hall.

He didn't miss the glimpse of Rias who opened her eyes wide and shed a single drop of tear whispering his name. This single tear was enough to boil his blood, almost literally in fact, as it awoken flames in his body, quickly raising the temperature around him.

Young dragon walked towards his master, other Devils split like the Red Sea before Moses whispering among themselves and leaving him a clear path. Guard rushed to stop the intruder, however:

"Ise-kun! Leave this to us!" Kiba, who is wearing a white tuxedo, used his sword to stop him.

"…You are late."

"Ara ara, so you finally showed up."

Koneko, who is wearing a simple white dress, and Akeno, who is wearing an expensive looking kimono, were stopping those who are trying to stop him.

"Thank you." he offered his thanks and continued his walk.

Issei stopped in front of Riser who grinned, put his hand on Rias' hips and pulled her closer trying to show his dominance.

'Buchou's virginity belongs to me!'

Raiser made a face that you can't explain with words, Rias blushed madly and looked away embarrassed a but a smile was present on her face.

 **'And you said it aloud, Partner'** Wild laugh burst in his head. He began to panic. There went his plan to appear tough, professional and be taken seriously. But much to his surprise and confusion, they did take him seriously.

Devils around him were making unsettled faces and they were panicking even more than him. The whole hall became very noisy, full of confused comments and questions.

"It's an event that I organized." a man looking like a male and slightly older version of Rias said silencing the Devils yet again. He stood up from a chair far back in the room and walked to them.

"Oni-sama."

Issei suddenly felt uncomfortable and nervous. This man was Sirzechs Lucifer, the King of Hell and strongest devil alive. And he was looking right at him closely with a smile, but also with a weird glint in his eyes.

"The [Rating Game] from last time was very entertaining, but it left me... unsatisfied. I wanted to see the battle between the Dragon and the Phoenix, so I asked Grayfia to bring him here."

"S-Sirzechs!? You can't do something irresponsible like this!" older man with crimson hair said.

'Is he Buchou's father?'

"It should be fine. I want to make my cute little sister's engagement party the one all Devils will remember and will talk about for ages. Don't you think it's the ultimate event? To stir up the party by having a battle between legendary creatures. There isn't any entertainment which can surpass this."

Voices of approval rang through the hall. Panic was replaced by enthusiasm for the coming fight

"Dragon user-kun. You have our permission. Raiser, can you show your power once more right in front of Rias and me?"

Hearing Maou-sama's wish, Raiser made a fearless smile.

"Very well. There is no way I can decline if Sirzechs-sama asks me. This Raiser will show his last performance before getting married!"

Issei growled, dragon inside him, metaphorical not Ddraig, waking up in a prospect of the incoming fight.

"Dragon user-kun, what prize do you want when you win the match?"

"Sirzechs-sama!?"

"What are you saying!?"

The relatives started criticising at Sirzechs-sama's offer. However—.

"He's a Devil, so we need to give him something fitting for it since we are asking him to do something for us. Now then. Tell me, Dragon user-kun, what you want more than anything in this world. What is your deepest desire? Women? Wealth? Freedom?"

"Yes." short answer interrupted his listing of possible rewards.

Lucifer never showed any change in his expression but was disappointed with that answer and little angry with himself; seeing the boy dedication in the Rating Game he thought he would be perfect for his plan to save his sister from this marriage and maybe even a great candidate for her husband. Someone who would keep her safe and happy, but it seemed that he was wrong. Or maybe he was just a fool offering dragon freedom and ruined everything.

It didn't matter too much, he was a dealer in this game and he stacked the deck. There was a backup plan in case the boy loses and he will simply deal with the consequences and the boy later.

"That is what I promised Rias Gremory-sama, to give her back her freedom. When I win, I am taking her home. That is my wish, Lord Lucifer" Issei ended with a bow.

"Very well. _If_ you win, you may take Rias with you." Sirzechs responded holding back laughter. Maybe he was right to trust the boy and tonight will have a happy ending after all.

* * *

The center of the hall was cleared in a hurry making a place for an improvised arena. Gremorys to the left, Phenex' to the right and rest Devils between them. Both contestants were standing in the middle facing each other waiting for a signal to start.

"It's a shame that you are my opponent, Dragon-brat. I'd suggest you give up and save yourself humiliation, but Lord Lucifer wants to see a fight. Pffft, if you can even call it a fight since it will take only one fireball to beat you. Again. If only the legendary Boosted Gear has different wielder things might have turned different, but oh well." Raiser taunted ginning wildly, almost beaming with confidence.

Issei just stood there seemingly lost in thoughts. He couldn't decide how he should approach this fight. He could use power promised by Ddraig, which, according to the Welsh Dragon, was more than enough to 'annihilate that fried chicken imposter' but it comes with a price. It would worsen his condition and he may not survive its aftereffects.

On the other hand, if he decided to rely on his own strength and fire he would avoid that, but there was a different catch: he could lose. He never saw Raiser fight seriously, so he didn't know his strength. In all recordings of Phenex' Rating Games he saw, Raiser's tactic was the same: sacrifice his pieces to weaken the opponents, when they retire he would fly to the fight and use advantage his regeneration provided to wait out any attacks and finished his opponents when they were exhausted.

However, that didn't mean that it was all he had to offer. It was possible, even probable, that the moment the Immortal Fire Bird realize his situation he might show his true power and respond with a powerful attack, strong enough to beat Issei before he could do anything.

"Ise, you may use [Promotion]." Rias made it clear to everyone present who was her champion in this fight.

The young dragon turned to face his master, and look on her face brought an answer to his dilemma. Her eyes were full of worry and hope. It reminded him the exact words he used, and he will fulfill his promise. Failure was not an option.

"Buchou, I know I don't deserve a place in your peerage, I am nothing without my Sacred Gear, but still, I will become the Strongest Pawn! For you, I will overcome any obstacle and I will make sure that I will protect you even if I have to beat God! No matter the cost..." Issei declared first part loudly but whispered the last sentence to himself.

'Ddraig, grant me your power as you promised, everything you can and whatever happens, don't stop.'

 **'I can't promise you that, Partner'**

'But why?'

 **'Because of the system the one who sealed me created. You've met me after millennia I've spent inside this gauntlet and in that time I've accepted my fate and learn how to enjoy little pleasure watching the world through my hosts' actions offers, but it wasn't like that at the beginning. No matter how strong Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing are now they are just shadows of the first versions. I and the White One used the power they offered to corrupt our hosts and turned them into nothing more than vessels to continue our fight. Two stop that new seals were created, new restrictions added and one of them is that I cannot deliberately cause harm to my host.'**

'I see... Then give me all you can! I will win, or I will die while trying.'

 **'As you wish, Partner...'**

"[Promotion]! [Queen]!" As soon as Issei said this words he could sense his power rising. But they also awoke his flames, he could already feel them burning his body and he wasn't looking forward to the effects of Ddraig's power.

"Are both contestants ready? Please start!" After receiving confirmations from both males the Devil male who is in charge of the battle gave a call for the start of the match.

"Shiiiiiine! Over Boost!"

[Welsh Dragon over-booster!]

The red light from the jewel in the gauntlet shined throughout the entire hall. A deep crimson color aura covered Issei and molded itself into a plate-armor that had the same design as his gauntlet. The armor had a helmet with the motif of a dragon, two rocket thruster on it's back and a tail. It made Issei look like a small dragon.

The young dragon couldn't decide if the power and heat rising in his body was a good or bad thing. On the one hand, he was delighted and felt like nothing could stop him. On the other, it was the worst pain he felt in his life, being pierced by a Light Spear was nothing compared to the feeling of his body tearing apart from its own power.

'I thought you said you cannot harm me...' he accused spirit in his Sacred Gear gritting his teeth.

 **'*snort* You _asked_ for it. You are the master of the gauntlet, you can bend the rules to your will but even you can't break them, so I will have to stop before my power kills you.'**

"An armor!? You made the power of Sekiryuutei shape into a physical form!?"

 **"This is the power of the Emperor of Dragons! If you want to stop me, go and ask Maou-sama! After all, you've already lost, you cannot match the power of one of the strongest dragons!"** even Issei was surprised how deep and powerful his voice was. He wasn't sure if it's because of Ddraig's power or the armor, but he wasn't complaining.

"Am I supposed to be afraid!? You are the one that should be scared! You are merely a trash if you didn't have a Boosted Gear! If you didn't have that armor, then you would have perished before my fist reached you! That's right! If you take that gauntlet off, then you have no value!"

Issei didn't say anything more, he was too fired up for talking, both figuratively and literally. He covered his arms with [Ice-flames] and leaped forward using the jets on the armor in the accompaniment of Ddraig's whining about "the white flames defying his beautiful red armor".

Raiser smirked, according to the information he gathered spying on Rias' peerage Issei couldn't fly, so he spread his fire wings and rose above the battlefield sure he had the upper hand in this fight. In response, Issei spread his own wings and stopped in place using increased air resistance they provided and followed Riser using his jets again. Before Phenex realized what was happening Sekiryuutei was right next to him and punched him in the stomach with his gauntlet covered in fire. Then he wrapped his tail around Riser's neck and throw him to the ground.

'Huh, I could get used to having a tail. It's just like having the third arm' Issei thought gliding above Riser.

Phenex stood up with an angry grimace on his face, but Issei was focused on the wound on his stomach. It was filled with a mix of Phoenix' orange and his bluish-white flames. Hyoudou grin widened, it seemed his flames were indeed able to counter Phenex' famous regeneration ability and Riser was yet to notice it.

"Shitty Sekiryuutei brat! Sorry, but I won't hold back! I don't want to admit it, but right now you are a monster! In front of your master, Rias, peeeeeerish!"

Fire from Riser's wings formed a whirlwind surrounding him and the hall is surrounded by an intense fire so strong that even the Devils who were within this hall started to create a barrier to protect themselves.

"Firebird and Fenghuang! The hellfire of our clan that was praised as being that of a Phoenix! Taste it with your own body and turn into ashes!" Riser shouted, flames coming from his wings covered his entire body extinguishing Issei's flames and regenerating any wound on his body.

 **'The fire of the immortal bird Phoenix can also leave a scratch on the scale of Dragons. It isn't a good idea to allow him to land a hit.'**

'Then let's show him whose flames are better!'

[Boost! Boost! Boost!]

 **"Dragon shot!"** Issei pointed his open palm toward Riser focusing his flames on it.

[Transfer]

After transferring stored power to the small ball of flames it exploded, fire filled the entire hall stopping on barriers held by the Devils around it.

When the flames disappeared Riser was lying on the floor. He looked like a victim of one of his Bomb Queen attack with wounds all over his body, each burning with a mix of two flames. Even if his regeneration was winning the battle, his orange flames slowly overpowering the bluish-white, it took a lot of his energy and stamina while Issei seemed unaffected. Devils didn't know that it was all thanks to the Ddraig's power holding armor steady while Issei could barely hold himself due to the strain on his body, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was looking all powerful flying above beaten Riser.

"H-how?... Nothing burns hotter than the hellfire of our clan" Riser mumbled standing up.

It was Issei turn to smirk, it seemed that Riser didn't understand what was special about his flames and how they were able to stop his regeneration.

 **'What do you expect? Combining fire and ice is an abstract idea for a being made of flames'** Ddraig chuckled amused in his mind.

 **"It doesn't matter how bright and hot your fire burns, it's no match for mine!"** Issei taunted diving at Riser. With one punch to the face, he sent him back to the floor and transferred more power to his flames before jumping back. He was standing in the middle of the hall, facing Riser with both families behind the Firebird.

Riser was breathing heavily and had trouble getting up, but it didn't mean the battle was over; he could still have some power or ability that he could use to turn the table, he was The Rating Game prodigy and so far he didn't show any reason to be called that.

Issei appeared unaffected, in perfect condition to continue the fight but it wasn't true, he was running out of time, next attack could be his last before his body reaches its limit and Ddraig will be forced to take away his power. Reason for that situation was simple: while usually Boosted Gear only doubles its wielder power thanks to the deal with the Welsh Dragon Issei was granted some of Ddraig's strength. It meant that with each Boost more dragon energy was circulating in his body, damaging it to the point he may not recover from.

Sekiryuutei raised his hand in preparation for what he hoped would be the last attack. He was desperately trying to figure how many Boost he needed for it to be successful without causing him too much harm to himself.

"H-Hold on! Do you even know what you are doing!? This engagement is important and necessary for the future of Devils! You are a servant of the Gremory Clan! You should-" Riser tried to talk his way out of the situation.

 **"No, I am not."** Issei interrupted causing voices of indignation and confusion to rise among gathered Devils. **"I am Rias-sama's servant. I don't care about the Gremory Family, the Phenex Family or politics, only about her."**

"Lord Lucifer, you can't possibly allow this... this traitor to-"

"It's fine Ruval, you know how the dragons are. Besides, as long as he serves my sister he serves the Gremory Family and the Underworld, his opinion doesn't matter. Unless you want to say something about her?" Sirzechs' voice turned just a little aggressive at the end which was more than most of the present guests heard since the end of civil war. Ruval didn't say anything more, despite the title of Lucifer, Sirzechs was still Gremory in heart and it wasn't a secret how much he adored his little sister or what he could do to those who spoke badly about her.

"Then name your price. Give up and I'll give you anything you want" Riser tried to buy his win.

 **"You are a bigger fool than I thought, Riser."** Issei laughed lowering his hand and throwing his head back. **" What could you possibly have to offer that I wouldn't ask Lord Lucifer earlier?"** That was a lie and they both knew it. Even Issei realized that only reason Sirzechs granted him a wish was to give him a way to stopping his sister marriage. Not that it mattered, it was exactly what he wanted and exactly what Riser wouldn't give him.

 **"Just admit it, Riser. You lost, your actions made that clear. Surrender and I'll extinguish my flames."** Issei said hoping that he could avoid another Boost.

"Never! I will not kneel before low-class nobody like you!"

 **"It's your choice."** Issei said raising his arm again.

"Noo! He gives up, don't hurt him!" Ravel screamed jumping into the arena.

She stood between her brother and Issei, arms spread protectively, but it seemed that was all she could do. She turned her head to the side, unable to face the dragon. She was trembling with fear as she felt pressure from Issei coming closer and closer to her.

"Ravel, what are you doing? Get out of here! And you dragon-brat, don't you dare even touch her!"

She closed her eyes ignoring her brother and waited. She expected the dragon to attack her or throw her out of the arena, but not his hand gently patting her head.

"That was brave. Stupid as hell, but brave. Wait, we are in hell, what do devils say? 'Stupid as heaven'?" Issei said causing Ravel to look up. He removed his faceplate and was smiling at her.

She nodded not sure how to respond.

"You really care for him, don't you?"

She could only nod again.

Issei's smile disappeared as he moved his head to face Phenex family.

"Well, what now? I don't really want to hurt her, but I will fight them both if you force me."

Lord Phenex shook his head. "No need. House of Phenex acknowledge your victory, Sekiryuutei Hyoudou Issei."

Sekiryuutei walked towards his master but stopped just after two steps, right next to Riser.

"You mocked me saying that without my Sacred Gear I am nothing, what that says about you? Without your regeneration, you are just burnt yakitori." Issei said, snapped his fingers and resumed his walk.

Immediately blueish-white flames disappeared, Phenex' orange flames burst quickly regenerating any injury that Riser had. But he didn't move, he just stood there, staring at Issei unable to speak.

Young dragon reached Gremory Family in silence and stood in front of his master still in armor.

"Buchou." it was all he said with a bow.

Silence in the hall became awkward, no one dared to speak in fear of gaining the attention of Sekiryuutei. It took Rias few seconds, which felt much longer, to realize what was happening and speak.

"Ise, take me home, please."

"As you wish, my Lady." Issei responded deactivating his Sacred Gear, which caused the armor to disappear. He then picked her up bridal style, offered a nod to the man he thought was her father, and carried her out leaving the hall at a calm pace.

* * *

Issei and his master were flying on a creature that Rias called Griffon under the purple sky od Underworld. It appeared from magic circle Grayfia gave him and it made him wonder how much of recent events was actually his doing.

It was Lucifer who brought him to the ceremony, made his challenge possible and it was Maou who broke the engagement. His fight with Riser and a favor from Lucifer was just excuses; if the Devil King didn't want it to happen Issei wouldn't be able to do anything. It made him feel like a scapegoat, a simple pawn in Lucifer's game.

'I am her [Pawn], so I guess it's fitting.' He looked at the redhead in his arms and smiled.

Rias must have somehow felt his gaze because she looked up to see his face.

"You dummy." she said pointing to his back. Issei realized that he still had his wings out. Unlike his previous devil wings, which disappeared when he wasn't using them, his new wings were made of flesh, bones, and scales and they only folded into natural, comfortable position but were clearly visible.

"You gave your wings to the Dragon as a price to borrow that power right?"

"Yes. It was a good deal. Someone like me with no talent and who has nothing was able to get the ultimate power just with my wings! Thanks to that I was able to defeat Raiser and get Buchou back!"

He put on a smiling face, trying to assure her it was fine but Buchou narrowed her eyes and looked sad.

"You know that they won't turn back to normal anymore, don't you?"

"Normal? As if bat-like wings are normal for humans." he laughed. "It's fine. I am a dragon after all and now I have the wings to show it. Besides, I can hide them and pretend to be the normal human teenager, see?" he asked hiding his wings, it made a small smile to appear on Rias face. But just after few seconds frown had returned.

"...You may have broken this engagement. But a new engagement might be brought in, you know? If you keep on doing this..."

"Then I have to become strong enough on my own to beat anyone who may come. And if I can't... Well, Ddraig was interested in my left arm, so we can make another deal."

 **'Partner...'**

'Not now Ddraig, she deserves that moment of peace.'

Distracted by the Welsh Dragon Issei never noticed that Rias moved closer and placed a hand on his neck pulling him for a kiss. It lasted almost a minute leaving young dragon speechless, staring at his master with wide open eyes.

"My first kiss. It's something that girls treasure in Japan, right?" she said laughing.

"Eh? Y-Yes, it certainly is! Huh!? Your first kissssss! A-Are you okay with it!? T-That it was me?"

"You did something that's worth having a kiss with me. It's a reward."

Issei wasn't sure if Rias knew that it was also his first kiss, and while it wasn't as big of a deal for a guy it was something very special to him. Scratch that, she knew his reputation and history from middle school and history with Raynare, she must have known this.

Rias' smile turned into a teasing one when she spoke her next words.

"Speaking of first things, do you really want my virginity that much?"

Issei turned to the side, unwilling to face his master, with face red from embarrassment.

"Sorry I said that in front of everyone in the hall.."

Rias just grab his head with both her hands and turned it to look into his eyes, her smile turned almost predatory at this point.

"You didn't deny or confirm~. So, what is your answer?"

Issei groaned and pull her head to his chest in an attempt to avoid this conversation. Red Dragon Emperor suddenly became a very fitting name, it matched his face color perfectly.

Neither of them said anything more as they flew under purple sky accompanied by the melody of Rias' happy laugh.

* * *

Next day was Saturday and it made Issei very happy boy. It meant that he wouldn't have to go to school for next two days and he could stay home, unbothered, and use that time to relax and think over events that happened past few day. He could also use some of that time to talk to Ddraig and figure out what should he do about his condition, but honestly? That could also be done during boring lessons.

This plan went to hell when he opened his home door and saw Rias Gremory standing outside next to a big pile of boxes. Ok, so technically the plan didn't go to hell, instead was ruin by a creature from Hell itself but you get the point.

His brain gave up not able to comprehend redhead words.

"What?" was all he managed to say.

"I said I am moving in with you." Riad repeated with a smile. "Didn't you say that you are taking me home?"

"No... I mean yes! It's just... I meant your home, not mine..."

"Oh, so you don't want to live with me?" she said with a hurt expression.

"That not it! Opposite in fact, but are you sure you want to live here, Buchou?"

"Yes, I just said it, didn't I?"

"B-but we don't have a spear room, you'd have to share with Asia..."

"Ah, that's fine." she waved her hand dismissively. "Now, be a good dragon and carry those boxes upstairs when I'll talk with your parents." she said and walked inside.

"Yes, Buchou."

Issei looked at boxes and sighed.

'Why didn't she teleport them inside... Anyway, I should get to it, it's not like my parents will say no...' he thought picking the box closest to him and walking inside. However, since a trained monkey could do it without any problem he decided to use the time to also do something productive: talk with the dragon in his left hand.

'Ddraig, you there?'

 **'Aye, Partner. What do you need?'**

Issei tilted his head in confusion.

'I thought you can hear my thoughts, read my mind or something like that.'

 **'That I can do, however, I was told it's incredibly rude so I restrain from doing so unless I deem it necessary.'**

'I see. You said that I have to become stronger to be able to handle dragon energy in my body. I was wondering if you have any suggestions on what should I do.'

 **'Like I also said it before, you should seek powerful dragon to train you.'**

'I know, I remember... But wouldn't it be enough if I, dunno, hit a gym and start running two times a day?'

 **'No, that would be an excellent idea, but two maybe three years ago. If you want to survive, you have to become strong fast. And for that, you need a dragon to train you.'**

'But... How will I find a dragon... Especially in Kuoh? Can't I just find someone strong, but not necessarily a dragon?'

 **'Partner, I understand why you didn't say her anything about it earlier, but now it's not the time for secrets. Don't even bother to deny that you just don't want to talk to her about it. Just answer me this: what is a dragon?"**

'Massive, fire-breathing creature covered in scales?' Issei more asked than answered.

 **'*sigh* No. Not every dragon can breathe fire, nor everyone is covered in scales. Ouroboros is a true shapeshifter and can take any form, hell, you are considered are a dragon. Do you have some hidden scales except for my wings?'**

'Well, no... But you said I'm only a tiny part dragon so...'

 **'You either are a dragon or you are not, there is no between. I called you 'part dragon' because I know from experience that it's the easiest way to explain it to humans. First dragons were born from masses of energy, and it is exactly what we are. Even if next generation was born in conventional, though reptilian, way the principle stands. You could say they were created from a combination of their parents' energies. Same goes for you, you are a dragon because possessing the Boosted Gear grants you some dragon energy. You will be recognized as one by other dragons, but if they will respect you is another matter.'**

'What does this have to do with my training?'

 **'Be patient, Partner, I am getting to it. There's a saying that [only a dragon can train another dragon], but it's not entirely true. Dragons don't need anyone to train them, they instinctively know how to fly, use their tail, breathe fire or use whatever is their element as soon as they are strong enough to do it. Also, they can get stronger same way the other do: fighting and practice. I guess the proper way of saying it would be [the best trainer for a dragon is another dragon]. To put it simply, unlike the humans' dragons' body is a manifestation of their energy, not source of it, but training is similar to training your muscles. Every time you used your energy it grows stronger, however, if you are in presence of another dragon you will absorb some of their energy, especially the excess energy from their attacks, accelerating your growth.'**

'Wait, I thought it is dragon energy that causes my problem. How absorbing more of it will help me?'

 **'It's not that simple, the problem lies in the dualism of our existence. I am sealed in the Sacred Gear, I live in your left arm and my soul is bonded to yours, but we are separate beings. We are Red Dragon Emperor, but you are Issei Hyoudou and I am Y Ddraig Goch. You gave me your wings, but they are still part of your body and you can use them... As long as I let you, that is, but they are mine, not yours. Because of that, your body was exposed to my energy, which is foreign to it and at the same time, it's part of it. By training under a dragon or dragon-like creature, you will strengthen 'Issei' part of our union and, hopefully, you'll become strong enough to withstand my part's influence.'**

'Dragon-like creature? Didn't you say that you either are or aren't a dragon?'

 **'Wyverns, Hydras, basically, creatures possessing dragon energy, either by similar origins or degradation from dragon ancestor, but not intelligent enough to be classified as sentient being. There's no explicit definition, sometimes they are considered dragons sometimes more as animals with similar traits.'**

Issei stopped in the middle of stairs when the implications of what Ddraig told him earlier hit him.

'What did you mean saying 'as long as I let you use my wings'? Can you take control of them? Can you take control of my whole body?' he asked in terror.

 **'Yes, they are mine after all. And yes, I can take control of your body but only if you let me and you could take it back anytime you want, you don't have to worry.'**

'Phew...' he resumed his walk pacified. 'You also said every dragon can instinctively fly. Any idea why I couldn't fly with my devil wings?'

 **'As I told you a few times already, I am not an expert in devil's anatomy. But I have two guesses, and they are not exclusive. One, you knew how to fly with dragon wings and devil's wings my work differently, so it was counterintuitive. Two, dragons have high magic resistance, you weren't born with demonic energy so until it fused with your fire your body was rejecting it and you were too weak to fly.'**

'I see, thanks, Ddraig, you're the best. I just have to find some dragon-like creature stronger than me, which shouldn't be hard seeing how weak I am, and train with it. Where can I find them? Any ideas?'

 **'Not so fast, Partner. There's a catch.'**

'Of course, there is...' Issei sighed resigned, his hopes for a fairly easy solution were murdered viciously.

 **'Your plan would be sufficient if you were normal dragon hatchling, but the thing is, you are always close to a powerful dragon, me, and we already established that my energy is not the best for you. Also, the stronger you get the more energy you'll drain from Boosted Gear, which, by extension, also means me.'**

'So what can I do? If I stay weak, I'll die. If I get stronger, your energy influence will get stronger and I'll die. What is the point in trying? Maybe I should just run and hide to avoid harming anyone in case I'll explode again...'

 **'Huh, I guess I was wrong about you. I thought that you have potential, that you have something in you that made you chosen to be my host, but it seems that it was just an error. Very well, if you don't want to live I won't force you.'** Ddraig sounded very disappointed for some reason.

'No, Ddraig. It's not that I don't want to live, but you said it yourself. No matter how strong I'll get it won't change my situation.'

 **'I never said that. I said it will be harder, not impossible. Hold on, I'll search your mind for some analogy you'll understand.'**

Issei didn't understand what the dragon meant. It seemed straightforward for him: if he wanted to live, he would have become stronger than himself. Constantly, in an infinite loop, since the stronger he gets, the stronger he'll have to become.

When he reached the pile of boxes his mind took a little detour to wonder why Buchou needs so many things and where will she keep them. There wasn't enough space in Asia's room, it was already cluttered with boxes and he was only in the middle of the pile. At best.

'Meh, Buchou will probably use her magic to enlarge the closet or something like that.' he shrugged and returned to previous task and thoughts.

 **'Ok, I think I got this. Imagine you are a Pokemon-'**

'Say what now?!' Issei interrupted.

 **'Pokemon, a weird creature from a-'**

'I know what a Pokemon is. What I don't know is what does it have to do with anything.'

 **'Just listen, Partner. Imagine you are a Pokemon with that thing called _levels_. To reach next you need more and more of those _exp points_ as you progress, right?'**

'Uhm, yeah..' Issei responded dumbfolded.

 **'That's your situation. As you get stronger, stress on your body coming from my energy will increase and you'll have to train more to overcome it. But the thing is, you don't need to keep doing that forever, you'll be fine if you reach, say, level 50.'**

'Oooh, I see.'

 **'Great. Now, to level up you'd have to fight with weak opponents so you'd be sure to win. In your case, do regular training. But it is too slow, so I want you to cheat. Instead of fighting weaklings you'll use an _exp-share item_ and let level 100 Pokemon fight with powerful ones and get more points. Your case, train under a powerful dragon and absorb some of their energy.'**

'I get it now. So, what do I do?'

 **'I told you, seek powerful dragon to train you. Preferably stronger than me to reduce my energy's influence.'**

'But aren't you like the strongest dragon?'

 **'No... *sigh* even in my prime I was the third strongest at best, I've never finished my fight with White-one to find which of us was stronger. Now, I am even weaker, I lost some of my power after I was defeated and sealed while the world moved on. I don't even want to think what place on the world's strongest list I would take if I were to break out from that prison...'** Ddraig paused for a moment, it was clear for Issei that it wasn't a pleasant topic for him.

 **'But you should aim high. You can't overdo it, if you'd find dragon stronger than needed, it will only help you. I'd suggest Tanin, you have best chances to find him since he lives in the Underworld, he cares about the wellbeing of all dragons, and he is a devil now. I'm sure you understand where I'm going with this.'**

'Yeah... But-'

 **'No, no buts. You'll have to tell her eventually and the longer you wait, the worse chances of your survival. You can't just sit here and wait for a solution to appear, you have to act.'**

It was exactly when Rias peeked from the salon and spoke to Issei.

"Ise, I almost forgot. My brother wants to speak with you, Grayfia will take you to him later today. Hurry up with the boxes, you can't meet with a Maou like that, you have to take a bath. Yeah, maybe I will wash your back for you, what do you think?" she didn't wait for his response and walked back into the salon. Issei could hear Asia complaining about being left behind and something about a war, but he didn't pay it to much attention, there was something much, much more important.

'You were saying, Ddraig?' he asked with a wide grin on his face.

Welsh Dragon only groaned and cut the mental link between them.

* * *

 **AN**

 **'Do you really think Riser is a good guy?'** No, I think he's an asshole. My point was to explain his reasons and to show that there may be more to him than 'one-dimensional second boss villain'. He's been hiding behind the mask of tough guy, not showing any signs weakness. Combine it with an unhealthy amount of pride. Reinforce by the fact it worked, he was dubbed 'Rating Game prodigy'. It's a perfect recipe for an asshole with a superiority complex and the mask became real him. But deep down, buried under that all may still be a guy who's afraid of losing and worried that his regeneration has limits.

Look at Ravel. She's trying to hide behind a mask of the perfect princess. Same thing, only Riser is much further down the road.

Till the next time.


	7. A chat with Satans

Issei was brought by Grayfia to Lilith, the current Capital of the Satan territory, which meant part of Underworld controlled by the devils, and was now following her into the castle where Mauos resides.

His previous eagerness was nowhere to be found. It's not because he wasn't happy with the prospect of finding a solution to his condition, but it was buried under nervousness which grew more and more as he was getting closer to the castle. He didn't know what Lucifer wanted with him, only that he [had some questions for him]. Of course, Rias told him not to worry, that she's sure it's nothing serious, but it didn't help much.

He walked through a corridor filled with paintings and sculptures and he could swear he saw some of them in the books in school. Yet again, it made him wonder how rich devils truly were and increased his desire to become High class as soon as he could.

Grayfia opened the doors at the end of the corridor and gestured him to come in. He walked into the hall big as his house. On the sides were expensive looking chairs with symbols he presumed were different clans crest. In front of him, on the other side of the hall, was a platform with six thrones made of gold and other expensive metals, decorated with gems and ivory, and... pink office recliner with a picture of a character from Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven... He blamed Mil-tan that he possessed such knowledge.

Two of the thrones were occupied. One in a middle, Issei recognized the man sitting on it as Lucifer, and one to it's right, by a young man appearing in his early twenties, with green hair slicked back. It matched the description of Ajuka Beelzebub Rias gave him, and since he was sitting on the throne next to Lucifer it was probably him.

He walked forward slowly, he felt like he didn't belong there and would rather leave. When he was in the middle of the hall Lucifer spoke, his voice formal.

" **Sekiryuutei. Hyoudou. Issei.** "

He could feel Lucifer's power filling the room. His nervousness skyrocketed and he stopped mid-step.

"Oh? What happened to yesterday's bravado? Don't be afraid, come closer."

Issei wasn't nervous anymore. He was utterly terrified. The only reason he didn't simply turn back and run was that he was too scared to move.

'Did Buchou tell him? Is this a reason why I am here? What do they want?' He was sure that Maou somehow knew about his deal with Ddraig and was mocking him, but not why.

Little did he know that Lucifer took guilty pleasure in scaring his guest who visited him for the first time. That and usually scared devils were more cooperative, more willing to talk or show their true face rather than lie. And since his little sister wasn't here he didn't see any reason to make an exception for her [Pawn].

It took a slight push from Grayfia to make young dragon move again, but he finally reached the platform in silence.

"Do you know why are you here?" Sirzechs asked, his voice still formal.

"B-buchou said you have some questions for me, Lucifer-sama." Issei answered in trembling voice.

"Who? Oh, right. That's how you call little Ria-tan." The King of Hell said with a dreamy face which quickly disappeared under his wife glare.

"I'm not sure if you realize, but yesterday's events caused a lot of stir among the Elders." he continued.

'I called it. I am a scapegoat to be imprisoned or executed as an example for the masses.' Ddraig only sighed deep down in his mind.

"You, a regular human teenager, reincarnated as a devil not even a month ago was able to beat pureblooded, high-class devil from a Pilar Clan, dubbed a Rating Game Prodigy. What's more, you defeated Immortal FireBird with fire." Lucifer paused for a moment before waving his hand dismissively. "But that's not a problem. Your sudden _increase_ in strength could be explained by your _Longinus_ , and it wasn't the first time I've seen Phenex harmed by a dragon fire."

'It was official, he knows about the deal. But why I am here?'

"What is a problem, however, is that you had not only harmed Phenex, no, somehow you were able to stop his regeneration with your flames. There is only one kind of fire capable of doing so matching your flames. Tell me, Sekiryuutei, how are you, a devil, able to use Holy Fire?"

Issei's eyes widen. He didn't know much about devils, or the supernatural world in general, but he was told that Holy Energy is devils' biggest weakness. Combine it with his Longinus class Sacred Gear that holds the potential to kill a god and it was obvious what Elders may think. That he was a threat to them... And he heard it once before... When he was killed by a fallen angel...

"It's not a Holy Fire!" he shouted in panic taking a step back. "It is demonic fire... I mean, dragon fire... Demonic dragon fire?" he tried to elaborate but ended up more asking than answering.

"Show me." Beelzebub ordered.

Issei looked at Lucifer for confirmation and, after he noded, he summoned his flames over his hand.

Next instant Ajuka was next to him, his face mere centimeters from his flames. Issei didn't even see him move, he simply appeared there almost like he was summoned with the flames.

"Impossible. Fire so cold that it burns. I heard the legends, but seeing it..." Beelzebub sounded like he was talking to himself. He placed his hand under the flames and took it with him when he walked back to his throne. The whole way he was mumbling something, but Issei was only able to catch pieces; [rules of nature], [dragon energy] and [catalyst], but it made no sense to him.

"Your fire must be something really special. I haven't seen him act like this in years." Lucifer laughed, his previous formality gone. He had his fun and if the fire carried any holy element Ajuka would've already said something so he considered the problem as dealt with.

"While we are waiting for him to finish... Whatever is he doing, why don't you answer me one more question, Dragon user-kun?" Issei glimpsed at other Maou and sweatdropped at the sight of multiple magic circles circulating around three identical looking blueish-white fires floating in front of still mumbling and making notes devil.

"O-of course, Lucifer-sama."

"During your fight with Riser, you said that you are not Gremory's servant but Rias' servant. Do you stand by those words? Do you even know what those words implied?" seeing the confusion on Issei's face Sirzechs sighed and continued. "It seems I have to speak with Ria-tan about what she teaches her servants.

You are not just her servant. When she resurrected you using Evil Pieces she made you a devil, and as such you are part of the Underworld. Devils society is complicated, but it is built in the hierarchy similar to the English feudal system, with Satans on top, then there are Pillar Houses, some of the Extra Demons houses, and Ultimate class devils granted their own land. Below them are other houses, and while some answers directly to the Satans, most of them are vassals of other clans. That system worked well for years until the Great War, in which many devils were killed, including those high up in the hierarchy. There were devils left with nothing but their name, who tried to regain their position by claiming the lands and vassals of extinct clans, and there were devils left who saw their overlord death as an opportunity to gain more power and influence by taking their place.

To make things worse, original Devil Kings death in the Great War left us divided. That lead to a civil war, which we, the New Maou Faction had won. However, the price we paid was hardly worth it... Over half of the Pillars gone, either extinct or deprived of their titles. Most of the Extra Demons have secluded themselves as they did not want to involve themselves with the Government. Underworld was in such ruin that we had to abandon our revolution, we couldn't afford another civil war. To ensure our survival instead of changing the way things were, we opted for repairing them and slowly reform with time. Because of that, when Evil Pieces were created we implemented them into an existing system rather than creating an entirely new one.

That brings us to you. It's true that you are Ria-tan's [Pawn] and her personal servant, but as a devil reincarnated by a member of the Gremory Clan you are it's vassal. If you become High class you won't be her servant anymore unless you'll choose to stay as one, but you will still be Gremory's vassal and member of her peerage required to fight in the Rating Games. As such you are obliged to follow Underworld's laws, fight for your overlord, and follow orders given to you by those above you, like Maous or Elder's Council. Of course, you answer directly to Ria-tan, especially during peace, and there's little we can force on you as long you don't break any rules, but it doesn't change your place in devil's society. Another thing is, you are obliged to follow your [King] as long as she follows our laws and in case she betrays devils in any way you are expected to report to her overlord, which means the Head of Gremory clan.

Your claim that you are not Gremory's servant implies that you did not accept your role as a devil and refuse to obey the rules, which is not something we want. It made some devils afraid, after all, you possess a Sacred Gear that has potential to kill gods, which means you will become powerful in the future. If you do not identify as part of the Underworld it makes you an unknown, a rouge that could betray us any moment. If the only thing that keeps you in the Underworld is your debt to Ria-tan what will stop you from leaving when you fulfill it?" Lucifer ended his long explanation with a question.

"I believe you lost Issei-sama in the middle of your explanation, Lucifer-sama." Grayfia said in a monotone.

Indeed, Issei looked more like braindead fish than a boy who understood what was said.

Lucifer pouted like a child and looked at his wife.

"Then why didn't you stop me?" Grayfia said nothing, no emotion broke through her mask and she simply stood there like a sculpture made of ice. But Lucifer knew better, she was his wife and he could see through her mask. In his mind, he saw how Grayfia shrugged with an evil smile before bursting into laughter. He pouted again.

'Oh well, maybe Welsh Dragon has been listening.' "Anyway, Issei-kun. May I call you Issei-kun?" Lucifer tried to gain young dragon's attention again.

"Y-yes. It would be my pleasure, Lucifer-sama"

'He's so cute trying to be formal and polite. It seems Mother will have a lot of work with him' Lucifer thought amused.

"Bottom line is you are a devil and you are expected to serve the Underworld and not only Ria-tan but your words claim otherwise. Do you stand by them?"

There was a small pause before Issei responded with a weak "Yes".

Lucifer laughed and spoke again.

"I'm sure that there are devils who share your sentiment, but no one was brave, or stupid, enough to say it in front of the Maou. Not to mention repeating it in front of two of them. Tell me, what would you do if your master decided to leave Underworld and join our enemies?"

"I'd follow her." Sirzechs was pleasantly surprised by an immediate answer and smiled warmly. Of course, being a responsible leader who placed his people before his family he would deny that he was happy that Issei said that, but he would fool no one.

"Interesting... And why would you do that? She's pure-blooded devil from a Pillar family, she would be probably forgiven her actions if she returned and we would try to capture her if she didn't. But you? You are just a low-class reincarnated servant who would be labeled as Stary and killed on-sight without a trail."

This time there again was a small pause before Issei answered.

"Buchou saved me. She gave me a second chance in life, it is only right that I would follow her wherever she goes."

Lucifer watched Issei carefully slowly taping his chin in thought.

"No... I think there's more to it." he smirked, "You love her, don't you?"

Issei blushed and looked to the side. Lucifer may be King of Hell but he still was his crush's brother and him saying that was embarrassing.

"I think I heard and saw enough. Ajuka?" Sirzechs laughed and turned to his fellow Satan.

"He's not lying, it is not a Holy Fire-"

"Great! Then I think we are done here. Grayfia-"

"Sirzechs, are you _seriously_ not interested how he stopped Phenex' regeneration?"

"Sure I am, but you replicated his flames so you can explain it to me later." Lucifer shrugged.

"Of course I was able to replicate it, but it didn't answer how he was able to create it in the first place. Do you even know what it is?"

"Demonic dragon fire." Sirzechs replied with a grin and received a blank stare in response. "What, it is a cool name."

Issei stared at Satans' barter in disbelieve. They were leaders of the Underworld, said to be the strongest devils to ever exist, and they looked so... normal.

"Just take a closer look..." Ajuka sighed.

"Fine..." he reluctantly agreed and lean closer to the flames. Just a moment later his relaxed expression disappeared as he tensed and turned back to Ajuka with a serious frown. " _How_?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

'Um, Ddraig? Why are they like that?'

 **'Didn't I mention that combining two elements in a single spell is very hard, and combining two opposite ones is almost impossible?'**

'No...'

"But you've done it."

"This one I created using my Kankara Formula to copy his flames, so I basically cheated. But this one I was able to make with my demonic energy, but _only_ after I saw how his flames work. The amount of energy I _wasted_ doing it would be enough to blow a city block and it is so unstable that I have to constantly add more energy just for it to balance and not disintegrate each other. But his fire? Perfectly balanced and stable. Require almost no energy to sustain. And his fight with Phenex' proved that they are capable of matching hellfire while mine barely holds on its own."

"But... You are a _genius_ who spend more time on research about magic than he's been alive! And if what Ria-tan told me is true, he didn't know about supernatural world and magic before his resurrection month ago. How is he able to outdo you?"

"Exactly what I'd like to know."

With that, both Satans turned to Issei who already missed the sweet moments when they were talking like he wasn't here.

"It's not that hard." he said trying to dismiss the seriousness of the situation but he only got an angry glare from Beelzebub in response. "I mean, for me. I am not exactly combining fire with ice, it's something else. My dragon fire is fused with demonic energy and it allows me to manipulate the properties of the flames."

"Fascinating." Ajuka said already analyzing possibilities. "Can you make something else?"

"Probably." Issei shrugged. "Ddraig said that I can use my flames in a similar way to Kiba's Sacred Gear, but I never tried to, I focused on creating those flames that can beat Phenex' regeneration."

"You have very powerful tools at your disposal, Young Devil. Many magicians would sacrifice everything they have to be able to combine elements with such ease as you. Do you know of any downsides to your abilities?"

"There's definitely one. The fusion works both ways, I cannot use my demonic energy without my dragon fire."

"That's a small price to pay for such power if you ask me. With those flames and your Longinus, you have potential to become very powerful very quickly. I'll be watching your development, don't disappoint me." Ajuka said and returned to his notes.

"Ajuka is right, you have a tremendous potential. But you'll have to work on your presentation if you want to advance in devil's society. But that is something for Ria-tan to worry about. We are done here, Grayfia please escort Issei-kun back to the human world."

"Of course, Lucifer-sama."

'Now or never' "Lucifer-sama, if I may... I'd like to ask you something."

"Huh? What is it you want to know, Issei-kun?"

"Well, it's more like a favor actually..."

"Yesterday I offered you any wish you wanted, you should've to ask back then. I cannot spoil young devils giving them favors anytime someone asks."

"I understand, Lucifer-sama, but I was hoping that you don't want anything bad to happen to your sister-" Issei never finished his sentence and immediately regretted his phrasing. Pressure coming from Lucifer filled the room making it impossible for him to breath. He could also feel the sudden cold behind him, probably coming from Grayfia's power, and saw Beelzebub conjure a magic circle.

"I really don't appreciate how you were ineptly trying to threaten my sister." Lucifer was angry and it showed in his voice and red aura surrounding him.

Issei wanted to protest, to say that it was not what he meant, that he was trying to warn him, but couldn't even breathe. His salvation came in form of green light coming from his left hand when Welsh Dragon decided to speak in his host's name.

 **"Fake Lucifer, a pleasure. There's no need for such hostility. My host just admitted that he loves your sister, why would he threaten her?"**

"Then what is he trying to say, Welsh Dragon? It sounded like a threat."

 **"I'm sure he will explain his poor phrasing as soon as you let him breathe again."**

Lucifer visibly forced himself to calm down before he spoke again.

"Very well. Speak, Hyoudou, but be warned. If I don't like your explanation, you'll not leave this room. Dead nor alive."

Issei gathered all of his left courage to face King of Hell again and speak.

"I'm sure you heard what happened in the hospital, Lucifer-sama. I can't guarantee it won't happen again. More like, I can guarantee it will and in much greater scale."

"I was told it was an effect of your power rising after removing the seal, was that a lie?"

"It... It wasn't a lie... More like part of the truth." Issei began his explanation of everything that happened: his first meeting with Ddraig, his offer and their deal, breaking of the seal before the Rating Game, and how Ddraig's power affect his body.

"And because of that-" he almost finished when Ajuka interrupted him.

"You are a walking bomb. Sirzechs, it wasn't a threat, it was a warning. Poorly worded, but you can't blame him for trying to get your attention by mentioning your sister."

"Maybe, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. What do you want from me, Issei-kun?"

"Ddraig said that if I don't want to explode I'll have to become stronger. Fast."

"I can't train you or even offer someone from my peerage to do so. Helping someone from my sister's peerage would be seen as favoritism and I cannot afford any more troubles with it. Not after I indirectly broke the marriage contract between Gremorys and Phenex for her."

"No offense, Lucifer-sama, but I wasn't going to ask for it. Apparently, I need a powerful dragon to train me and I heard that Dragon King Tanin became a devil. I was hoping that you could pass him a message from me."

Lucifer rose an eyebrow. He didn't ask him to order or even that he asked Tanin, but only that he pass a message?

"Former Dragon King, but yes. He's an Ultimate Class devil and that means that you could simply ask Ria-tan to do it. She can easily contact Tanin herself or ask the Head of the Gremory House for help in making a deal with him. Why come to me with it?"

"I don't want her to know..." Issei almost whispered and lower his head. However, feeling Lucifer's power rising again he quickly elaborated. "I'm dying. And I don't want her to worry or blame herself."

"Blame? Why would she... The seal... Do you blame her?"

"No, Buchou placed the seal on me to avoid the situation like this. And it's my fault that the seal broke, not her."

There was a long pause in their talk, no one said anything waiting for Lucifer to voice his answer.

"Strictly speaking, I cannot do anything to help you. The situation with the Elders is already very tense and if I include myself in Ria-tan's life anything more it will cause only problems. However, if it was Tanin who offered to train you I wouldn't have any reasons to interfere.

Luckily for you, your explanation how your dragon fire is fused with demonic energy and dragon energy affection your growth is a perfect excuse for me to meet with him."

"Thank you, Lucifer-sama" Issei said relieved.

"Don't thank me. I haven't and I won't do anything for you." Sirzechs said causing Issei to tilt his head in confusion. Satan only smirked and continued.

"You haven't asked me anything and I haven't heard anything you said after answering our questions unless you want to make it official."

"I understand, Lucifer-sama." In truth, he didn't. But he won't argue with Lucifer.

"So, for the third time. I think we are done-" Lucifer tried to end the meeting.

"Wait a moment, Sirzechs." Ajuka interrupted causing his friend to groan. "I'd like to take a blood sample from him. Maybe I'll find something that can help."

"Yeah, right. You just found something new to research."

"Who says I can't do both at the same time." Ajuka argued already next to the dragon with a syringe. "Do you mind showing me your wings?" he asked grabbing his arm to draw his blood. Issei only shook his head and willed his wings to appear.

"So, to defeat Phenex you decided to become like one." He said investigating his wings.

"What do you mean, Beelzebub-sama?"

"Ah, I forgot that you don't know the story of the first Phenex. When the Original 72 were created there wasn't a Phenex among them, there was Vuur, a devil who held control over Hellfire. But it wasn't enough for him, he wanted more power. Somehow he got a favor or made a deal with Phoenix, who as a reward turned his bat-like wings into fire-wings to the likeness of his own and granted him some of his powers. To show it to the world he changed his name to "Phenex" and started the clan we have today. And now, you made the same deal but with a Legendary Dragon.

Ok, I have everything I need. This time we are really done here."

"Grayfia, please escort Issei-kun to the human world." Lucifer again began to end the meeting and looked around to see if anyone will interrupt this time. "And please, inform Tanin that we will visit him later today."

"Of course, Lucifer-sama. Hyoudou-sama, please follow me."

Issei followed Grayfia in silence. The meeting went fairly well, but it wasn't over. While Lucifer kind of agreed to pass his request to Tanin, it didn't mean that the dragon will agree. Or that it will magically make his problem disappear.

 **'Don't worry, Partner. I'm sure Tanin will help you.'**

'We'll see. It's still more than I had before I guess...'

 **'So, the same deal as original Phenex, huh? I think we both know which was better, don't we, Partner?'** Ddraig joked in hope to lift his host humor.

'Yeah, we do. His.'

 **'Partner...'** Ddraig sounded offended.

'C'mon Ddraig, you may be the second best thing that happened to me but let face it. Their wings give them immense regeneration almost to the point of immortality and my are literally killing me.'

 **'That wasn't my intention-'**

'I know, I know... And I don't blame you or anything, it's just...'

 **'Yeah, I understand, Partner. But second best thing? I'm hurt, what beat me?'**

'Buchou.' Issei finally smiled at the thought of his master. 'She saved me when I was killed for possessing the Boosted Gear, in other words, you. You've lost some points there.'

 **'Heh, you win this one, Partner, but don't get used to it.'**

* * *

AN

It's official: I cannot keep things short. This was supposed to be quick chat before we move to the dragons, but... yeah, sorry. Unless you enjoyed it, then you're welcome :)


	8. Blaze Meteor Dragon

If someone told Issei before that night that he will be in bed with two beautiful girls and he won't be doing or even thinking anything perverted or resting after doing so, he would laugh and call them crazy.

Yet, here he was. Lying between Rias and Asia, both girls using one of his arms as a body pillow, unable to sleep for reasons that had nothing to do with them.

His mind was locked in a loop; convincing himself that Ddraig is right and Tanin will help him, remembering that it doesn't change his condition, placating himself that he can't do anything other than rest and prepare for training, traitorous thoughts that Tanin may refuse followed by a mild panic attack caused by a fact that he didn't have a backup plan and was running out of time, and back to beginning.

He found it almost funny when after few hours of that train of thoughts he realized that he was lying next to naked goddess from his school and the only way his brain acknowledged her existence was an annoyance that her presence stopped him from going to train.

-flashback-

It was early evening, barely after dinner and he was heading to his room to change into his training clothes. He didn't have many ways to train back in Kuoh but he thought that a jog and some pushups, pullups etc. couldn't hurt.

However, just as he started undressing Rias came to his room, without knocking of course.

"Oh, going to the bed early? Legends must be true, dragons really are lazy creatures that enjoy sleeping." she giggled.

"Buchou? W-what are you doing here?" he shouted in the panic trying to cover himself.

"I came to ask what my brother wanted from you. But that's ok, we can talk in bed while I'll cuddle with you." Rias said and began to undress as well.

Before he could say anything and explain that he was going to train Asia came into the room and the chaos erupted.

"Buchou-san? Issei-san? What are you doing?" nun asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Rias was first to answer. She wasn't bothered by Asia's appearance and continued to undress. "I'm going to sleep with my adorable Ise."

"Ise-san... and Buchou-san... are going to...sleep... " Asia mumbled with teary eyes.

It took Issei few moments to understand what exactly the nun was talking about and rushed to comfort her. Before he realized what he was saying he repeated Rias words about him going to bed early and her wanting to talk with him, cementing his fate.

"So... you are not going to do anything?"

"Oh, I didn't say that~ Maybe doing something a little bit naughty would be a good way to communicate with my adorable servant~" Rias said hugging Ise from behind and ended with biting his ear playfully.

"I will also get naked! I don't want to be left out!"

"Asia!?" he tried to reason with the blonde and convince her that she didn't have to do this, but failed.

Rias playfull attitude disappeared and she berated Asia for interrupting her time with Ise. The nun stated that she was first and it was Rias who interrupted her time she spends with Issei-san in the house.

Before the fight got any worse Issei decided to man up and stop them in the best way he knew, that is, he used his experience from eroge(*).

Usually, in those games, you reach a point where you have to face a similar situation: two girls quarreling, which one can accompany you in some activity. Then, you have three choices. You can side with one of them. It increases relation with her, but decreases it with other and possibly blocks her route. You can choose both of them, but that requires a lot of talking, convincing, choosing right answers and doesn't guarantee success. Or, you can choose nither, separate from their conflict, but offer both to join you. The quickest but also the riskiest way. If you didn't gather enough [relationship points] with both of them and your [craving meter] wasn't high enough it could end badly, burring your chances of a relationship with both girls or even influence future events. But, if everything works smoothly, they'll stop fighting and you'll unlock the Harem Route.

"You know what? I don't care. I am going to bed, you two can join me after you finish this." he turned back and jump into the bed.

He felt terrible treating girls like that, but he didn't have time for a drama and didn't want to hurt either of them. And since his life wasn't a video game he couldn't load a save if he fucks up, the third option it was.

'Besides, it's not like they want a romantic relationship with me. Asia is just afraid of losing her first friend, and Buchou... Buchou is acting weird ever since her brother broke the marriage contract. She's probably just happy and she's enjoying her freedom and it shows in her teasing and cheerful behavior, she just came to talk.'

Despite wrong assumptions, the first phase of his plan worked. Girls had stopped their argument and joined him on the bed, still glaring at each other.

The second phase, to wait for them to fall asleep and sneak out to train, failed. They were holding him tightly in sleep and when he tried to move the grip only harden.

-flashback end-

If that happened a few days ago he would be crying from joy and imagining how he would brag to his friends, but now all he could think of was his condition. That realization brought another unpleasant thought.

'It's not death that change people. It's dying...'

After he learned that Yuma-ch... Raynare wasn't a product of his imagination and she really killed him... He returned to his life like nothing had happened, he just joined ORC and focused on learning how to be a devil while keeping his whole routine. Maybe it was just a defense mechanism his mind used to cope with his death, maybe it was too much for him to understand that he died yet was still alive and repressed that memory, pretending that nothing happened.

But now? He was afraid. He couldn't stop thinking about it. His condition and ways to survive became the most important things for him, overshadowing even his dream to become the Harem King. Sure, one could say that it's quite a logical thinking process, after all, you cannot be the Harem King if you are dead, but he had never thought about it that way, he had simply never thought about dying. Now, when he was forced to do so, he saw things from a much different perspective.

It was less than two weeks since his nightmare, where he saw himself in Riser's place, which he considered to be the most eye-opening event in his life, that there cannot be anything that would affect him more and he was already proven wrong.

All the nightmare did was just make him realize that he wasn't the best guy and that he should try to tone down his behavior.

Dying made him realize that he had nothing and was going nowhere.

It started as a simple thought that old Issei would be thinking about oppai right now and yet he was thinking about dragons, devils and dying. Then, it turned into a full-blown revision of his life. And for the first time in his life, he was thinking clearly and wasn't looking at everything through oppai-colored glasses.

Friends? Not counting ORC who he met not so long ago and their relationship was complicated, he had no one. There was Rin, a guy who moved to England ten years ago and he didn't contact him since, so a childhood friend rather than a friend. Matsuda and Motohama? He realized that they were mere acquaintances with similar interests. All he knew about them were their likes in porn... And they surely didn't treat him like a friend; they used him as a sacrifice for a Kendo Club or as a scapegoat to blame if teachers or Student Council caught them. Ever since he joined the ORC it only got worse, they spread rumors or treat him like shit anytime something good happened to him. The rest of Kouh hated him. Even ORC members were hardly his friends, they were forced to work together and they all acted friendly but he knew almost nothing about them. His only hope was Asia and he just ignored her completely past few days... He really had to be a better friend for her.

Hobby? Porn, anime or both: hentai. Nothing to talk with someone and not something that is healthy or productive.

School? He barely passed his first year. And not even because he was stupid, but because he was too busy with porn and peeping to care enough to try.

Skills? Abilities? Nothing.

Family? His parents loved him, but it didn't make them any less disappointed. He knew he was the reason they had stopped visiting relatives.

Plan for the future? Become the Harem King. Yep, that's all. No career planed, no university chosen, but with his grades, that didn't even matter.

Devil business? Not a single contract. His promotion to high-class was just another delusion rather than a reasonable goal.

It raised two questions for him. Where did he go so wrong that his life looked like that, and if there was any reason to bother with saving himself since there was nothing good waiting for him.

He promptly ignored the second question.

Disappointed or not his parents would be devastated if something happened to him, and he promised Buchou that he will become the Strongest Pawn for her. And, since as a devil he would live for at least few thousands of years there was time to fix some of his mistakes and make something worthy with his life.

With that thought, he finally fell asleep just before the sun risen.

* * *

Issei woke up alone on the bed. Not really surprising, considering he liked sleeping and how late he fell asleep. He grabbed his alarm clock and rose an eyebrow. 11:43. Almost noon, late even for him.

He quickly readied himself for a day and walk downstairs, depressed thoughts from the night still in his mind. It was long after breakfast but maybe he will be able to hunt some leftovers in the fridge, or maybe one of the ladies in the house will take pity on him and make him something? He really should learn how to cook, at least one or two basic meals for situations like that.

"Mornin' sleepyhead. Done resting after long passionate night with your girlfriends?" Mr. Hyouou greeted his son from a salon.

"Nah, I just couldn't sleep. Do we have some leftovers for breakfast?" Issei said not paying attention to the question too much.

"Really? That's your reaction? [nah] and [where's food]? Something wrong, kiddo?"

"No, it's just-" 'I'm dying and my only hope to save my worthless life is to train under a powerful dragon. But don't worry, the girl who just moved in is Lucifer's sister and he promised to ask such dragon. Somehow I don't think it's a good answer.' "it's nothing. Ladies home?"

"Are you asking to avoid my question or you don't want them to know your answer and you're checking if the coast is clear?" his father smirked. "Either way, your mother took Asia-chan shopping, with an extra mouth to feed we need more supplies. Rias-chan didn't want to be a freeloader so she joined them.

Anyway, you don't have to tell me anything, but I'm here if you want to, kiddo."

Issei opened the fridge and didn't see any leftovers waiting for him.

'Ehhh... sandwich it is...' he sighed.

However, reaching for a butter he found a pleasant surprise from Asia. She made him a bento! It was waiting for him in the fridge with a note from her, he knew it was from Asia because the kanji symbols were little lopsided and spelled [eat down, Issei-san] followed by a smiley face. Maybe she made an error, but still A+ for thought and effort.

He grabbed it and walked to the salon where his father was. He really wanted to talk with him about what was bothering him, but how to say it without making him freak out or informing about supernatural world in general?

"So... I couldn't sleep because I was thinking." He started.

"That's a new one." His father laughed. "C'mon, kiddo, I'm kidding. Sit down and tell your old man what's troubling you." He quickly added seeing that Issei was getting up.

"You know I joined Kuoh Academy because it just turned co-ed and I wanted to make a harem."

"You weren't exactly keeping it a secret, you know? But [wanted]? Not [want]?"

"I don't know. You could say I went through reality check recently and I realized I was wrong about so many things that I just don't know what to do anymore.

I wanted to build a harem filled with beautiful women with amazing oppai and spend my day fondling them. Hey, don't laugh! I'm trying to open myself up here! I chose Kuoh Academy because I thought that with such high female to male ratio they would throw themselves at me. But why should they?

I have nothing to offer. I was... am? just a pervert that treats women like objects, just as an extension for oppai. Why would anyone want pursuit relationship with someone like me?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Under that perversion, you are a really great boy. You're honest, passionate and you always do anything to help others. You have a lot to offer, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Do I? I am average looking average-at-best student without hobby or reasonable goal for future not to mention a solid plan." 'Not to mention a low-class reincarnated weak devil who fell in love with a princess of the Underworld...'

"But let's say I somehow get a girl, or girls, to like me. What then? I went to school because it has a lot of oppai inside the building and I was ignoring the lessons to fantasize about my harem. This does not bode well for my future since to support a harem I'll need a lot of money and I don't think I can get a good job right now."

Of course, some of the problems were nulled by him being a devil, but it also added more, about which he didn't want to talk.

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but I don't know what to say that I already haven't. Find a hobby other than porn, start studying, try to not let your hormones control you. But you said it all yourself, so what's your point?"

"I think I need a break, new scenery, new start. Some time to think what I want from life, you know?"

"I see. New school?"

"Kind of. Buchou' brother's coworker has a foundation and it offers internships with a science camp, sort of survival training and martial arts lessons. It sounded like a perfect place to try restart my life, so... I applied."

"Did you get accepted?"

"I'm still waiting for an answer. I didn't use official application, more like Sirzechs-sama, Buchou's brother, said he will ask if they have a place. But it's rather last-minute option and the catch is, it's not in Kuoh or even Japan."

"That's... That's a big change, are you sure you are ready for it? And what about the girls? You'll just leave them here after they moved in with you?"

"I need this. Staying here won't be healthy for me or people around me. Besides, it's not like I am moving out forever, I'll come back when I finish the internship."

"Your life, your choices. I'll support you whatever you decide and I'm sure your mother will too. But it doesn't seem like you are asking for support or even agreement." Mr. Hyoudou smirked again.

"Yeah, not really." Issei laughed. "I would probably do it anyway, though I prefer doing it with your blessing."

"You have mine, but I can't speak for your mother. You'll have to ask her yourself."

"Thanks, dad."

With that, they finished the conversation. Issei opened his bento and his father returned to watching the news.

* * *

Later that day.

This time Issei was able to change into his training clothes uninterrupted and was doing series of pushups. He still didn't talk to his mother but it could wait until he will have an answer from Tanin.

"Ise, I'm little jealous, you know? You became such a popular boy in the Underworld and everyone is trying to steal you from me." Rias said walking into his room. When she saw him training she pouted. "You chose pushups over spending time with me? That's mean."

"Oh, hi Buchou." he greeted her without stopping his exercise. "It's not like I don't want to spend time with you, but recent events made me realize that I need to train more." he paused his series and looked up to face her. "And what do you mean [steal me]?"

"I moved here to spend more time with you but every time someone interrupts. Yesterday Asia and my brother, and now I was informed that Tannin-sama wishes to meet you."

"Really?" Issei shouted excited jumping to his feet. "Tannin-sama? As in Dragon King, the Blaze Meteor Dragon Tannin?"

"Ufufu, you seem excited."

"Of course I am excited! I have a chance to meet a real dragon, no offense Ddraig, and one of the Dragon Kings nonetheless."

"Former Dragon King, but yes. It is a great opportunity for you, so I've already agreed." she moved closer to her [Pawn] and put a hand on his cheek. "Still, I'd prefer if we have some time for us.

But... It is my duty as a [King] to take care of my servants and you'll need the support of influential figures in the Underworld if you want to become High Class. Meeting with leader of Underworld's Dragon faction is a great start in making such connections."

"Do you know what he wants from me?"

"You're probably just a pawn in a game of politics." Rias said and moved to his bed. "You can be considered a dragon-"

"I am a dragon." Issei interrupted with a pout.

"Ufufu, fine, you are a dragon and part of the Gremory clan. He offered to train you possibly to gain a favor from my family, to build a positive relation between Gremorys and Dragons with you as an excuse. Or he hopes to gain your favor and support when you'll move up in the hierarchy. Or both or he has another reason. You'll learn more when you meet him."

"When I meet him? Not we? You're not coming with me?"

"Unfortunately no. Brother told me to [leave dragon business to dragons]. Grayfia will escort you to a meeting, I trust you won't embarrass me or my family."

"Of course, Buchou, I'll be at my best."

"I'm not sure if that's enough." she laughed. "Just don't do anything stupid, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am. So, I guess I'll go talk to my parents and start packing."

"I can _talk_ with your parents if you want."

"No, I think I should, but thank you for the offer, Buchou."

"And what will you tell them?"

"The truth." he responded causing Rias' eyes to widen. "That I got accepted and got an internship at your brother's friend foundation."

"That's... That is actually a pretty good excuse. How did you come up with it?"

"Heh, it's... I was thinking about something like that, you know? To find a good trainer and I prepared excuse in advance to not worry them."

"I see. Then I'll leave you to it. Come see me when you're done the packing."

With that, she left the room and Issei followed suit soon heading downstairs to find his parents.

* * *

Issei was standing in the empty field where Grayfia brought him. She told him that Tannin will be here shortly and left leaving him alone in unfamiliar territory waiting for a dragon to come. It made him feel a little like a sacrifice to the beast just like in the legends. The difference was, he's male and the dragon won't eat him... Hopefully.

A few minutes later purple western dragon landed next to him. He had golden horns, and his form looked more humanoid than Ddraig's.

"Hyoudou Issei I take." dragon spoke.

"You're..." Issei started speaking but paused and tilted his head with a frown.

"I'm what?"

"I can't decide if I want to say big or small."

The dragon laughed, or at least that was how Issei interpreted his roar.

"Small compared to the Welsh Dragon, but big for a hatchling like you?"

"Yeah, something like- Hey! I'm not a hatchling!"

"You're a dragon, you're young and you're tiny. Sounds like a hatchling to me."

"Just wait, old man. I'll show you what that hatchling can do!"

"Atta boy, you have some dragon in you. This'll be fun.

As you know, I am Tannin. I saw your fight against Phenex and you caught my interest, so I requested a meeting.

At least the official version goes something like that. Tell me, hatchling, why did Lucifer tell me that you need my help and training. Not want, but need."

"Well, first of all, thank you for agreeing to meet with me." he bowed.

"Don't mention it, the official version is somewhat true. I was going to invite you to Dragon Mountains just not so soon."

"The reason I need your help is... I am dying and according to Ddraig only a powerful dragon can help me." he sighed. The moment of truth, he played his cards now it's all in the hand, or claws, of the dragon.

"I don't see a connection between training under a dragon and dying other than an unfortunate accident."

Issei sighed again and explained everything about his condition and circumstances that led to it. For a moment Tannin was silent then he sighed and shook his head.

"You two are idiots... Did any of you have any idea what you were doing? You know what, nevermind, I don't even want to know what you were thinking...

Well then, it seems we should hurry. Can you fly?"

"Yes."

"Then follow me, I'll take you to my cave, you can stay there for the duration of your training, but don't get too used to it, you won't spend there much time."

Tannin spread his wings and flown away. It seemed that Issei's training had already started since he had to work hard to keep up with massive dragon's speed.

* * *

A week and two explosions later in an improvised camp on the slope of an uninhabited mountain.

Tannin in his mini-dragon form walked to the sleeping Issei.

"Ddraig"Blaze Meteor Dragon whispered.

"Tannin" Welsh Dragon whispered back.

"When are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what? That he's rejecting your energy? That he's not getting strong fast enough? That he is going to die? I can't do this, there's still a chance and he has to give his 100%. If I tell him he will lose any hope left and give up."

"There's a chance? If it wasn't for Phoenix Tears he would've died yesterday."

"What else am I supposed to do? Unless you know another dragon who would be willing to help, the training with you is the best he can do."

"You think I don't know it? That's why I tried to introduce him to others in the Dragon Mountains, but he didn't react to any of them."

"Then what do you want me to do? Take him on a suicide mission to Dimensional Gap to search for Great Red? Find Ouroboros? You are the strongest he can get, unless, again, you know something. Other Dragon Kings? Someone who became strong while I was stuck in this gauntlet?

"Vritra is still chopped and sealed, Yu-Long is probably still hanging out with original Sun Wukong, Fafnir is lying low but I heard he was seen with Grigori and Midgardsormr most likely is sleeping, but he wakes up when something interesting is happening near him, maybe-"

"My host is a devil, he can't go to Asgard and ask to meet with World Serpent without getting Satans involved."

"What about Tiamat?"

"She hates me. She'll sooner kill him than help."

"Why does she hate you, Ddraig?" Tannin flinched at the sound of Issei's voice, he was sure that he was sleeping, but it seems he was wrong.

 **"How much did you hear, Partner?"** Ddraig said in his normal volume, worry present in his voice.

"Everything I think... I woke up the moment you started speaking. So, why does she hate you?"

 **"I... Don't know. I forgot the reason."**

 **"Seriously Ddraig? *sigh* maybe I should ask her, she could forgive you already."** Tannin said.

 **"Doubt that. She killed few of my hosts who dared to get close to her."**

"Old man, could you go to her? Ask her if she's willing to help? 'cuz it seems I don't have a chance on my own." Issei askes rather annoyed.

 **"Sure thing, hatchling. But if Ddraig's right I doubt I can do anything to convince her."**

"Thanks, Old man. I owe you one... Or few actually."

 **"That can wait, hatching. I'll go ask her, she should still be in the Familiar Forest, that's not too far from here, it shouldn't take long."** Tanin said transforming to his normal height and flew away.

Issei didn't move, he was just laying on his improvised bed and watching the stars in silence.

' **Partner**?' Ddraig asked shyly.

'I understand why you didn't say anything, Ddraig, but you should.'

 **'I sorry, Partner, but-'**

'Like I said, I understand. Nothing you can do about it now. Let's just hope that Tiamat will agree.'

Neither Welsh Dragon nor his host said anything more waiting for Tannin to come back.

It didn't take long before Issei saw a purple dragon flying back to them.

 **"I'm sorry, hatchling."** Tannin said.

"I see... Thanks anyway, Old man, you did what you could. Maybe I should go ask her-"

 **"Partner, she'll kill you-"**

"How long?" Issei interrupted.

 **"Huh?"** Ddraig replied confused.

"How long until I die unless I find another solution, Ddraig? If she agrees I may have a chance, if not." he shrugged. "She'll save me pain and troubles."

 **"I still think it's unwise-"**

"Doesn't matter. It's my only option. Old man, thank you for everything you've done for me, I really appreciate and I'm sure Ddraig will find a way to repay you when his new host shows up."

 **"Don't say it hatching. You're not dead yet, you'll be fine and you'll repay me yourself.**

 **If you truly want to go to her, I won't stop you, but be warned. She reacted very negatively when I mentioned Ddraig. Anyway, if she won't agree and won't kill you, you know where to find me if you want to continue your training."**

"Thanks again, Old man."

Issei watched Tannin flew away before speaking to Ddraig in a tired voice.

'Well, Ddraig, let's go and meet my fate.'

 **'Karma. Tiamat is known as Chaos Karma Dragon. And I still think this is a terrible idea.'**

* * *

 **AN**

(*) Disclaimer: unlike Issei I have no experience in eroge, haven't played any and I don't really want to "conduct a research". This whole thing is based on my knowledge of the genre from other sources and my imagination.

So... I was going to write chapter focused on dragons and Issei's training, but I ended up writing him going through existential crisis... what is wrong with me?

Anyway, he is a dragon, so I kind of made it about dragons...

111 followers... 84 favorites... Wow, I'm shocked that so many of you like this story enough to want to get a message when I upload a new chapter. I'm flattered, happy and I don't understand it, but **THANK YOU!**

Till the next time.


	9. Chaos Karma Dragon

Before Issei reached his destination, he realized two things. One, his and Tannin's definitions of [not too far] were very different but it could be explained by the second thing. Despite the fact that he could barely keep up with his trainer when they flew somewhere, the old dragon was going easy on him.

He already has been flying at least twice as long as it took Tannin to travel both ways and speak with Tiamat and he could barely see the forest on the horizon.

When he reached the forest and flown inside he found out that it was surrounded by some sort of a barrier. In the Underworld, it was early in the morning but the sun (artificial sun created by the Satans! Just how powerful they are?) was already illuminating his surroundings, but here was like in the middle of the darkest night. The only source of light was a moon (possibly also artificial) merely giving any light.

 **'Don't worry, Partner, this forest is a subdimension of the Underworld. I heard it's constant night here to provide environment preferred by creatures here. On the side note, consider yourself lucky. The barrier is set up to prevent devils from entering. If it weren't for the Boosted Gear giving you dragon energy you wouldn't be able to enter.'**

'If it weren't for Boosted Gear I wouldn't have reason to come here.'

 **'Touche. It's the last chance to turn back, Partner. Maybe she had not noticed you yet.'**

'Sink or swim, Ddraig. I have no choice, whatever happens at least I'll know I've done everything I could.'

 **'In that case, the only powerful dragon I can sense is to your left.'**

He followed Ddraig's instructions and landed near a large lake. He walked into the clearing next to it stepping carefully to not damage any of the blue flowers that filled the clearing and moved towards the mountain in the middle.

Said mountain looked really out of place like someone took it from a mountain range elsewhere and place it here. For a moment he thought it was impossible but then he remembered that he was in Hell and creatures living here were able to create an artificial sun, so moving a glorified rock wouldn't be a problem for them.

'You sure it's the right place?'

His answer came in the form of an angry roar from the cave. The roar was probably enough to freeze the blood of any creature nearby, but what really terrified him was sort of its translation his brain provided.

 **[I'll torture you. I'll murder you. I'll burn your body to ashes and then I'll burn the ashes to nothingness.]**

Later Ddraig would explain to him it was [dragon language], relict of ancient times before dragons learned how to communicate using proper words. It is more contextual than literal, the roar or growl is filled with dragon's emotions and intentions and other dragons will interpret the meaning themselves. It wasn't perfect, especially to explain more complicated matters, so dragons would develop a similar skill to devils where they speech would be translated to the language most natural to the listener, but it never disappeared.

The lack of that knowledge was probably a blessing. Knowing that the words he heard were true rather than a product of his terrified mind would only scare him more. If that was possible...

The roar was quickly followed by a blue blur and he found himself thrown to the ground, pinned to it by an angry dragon.

From his position, he couldn't see much. But it was clear that Tiamat was large, light blue, western type dragon. Definitely bigger than Tannin and her form was less humanoid more... classic? western dragon you see on drawings.

There was one thing he could see clearly. Her eyes. Beautiful blue eyes, filled with hatred and rage reptilian eyes but somehow it only made them more beautiful for him. He was hypnotized by them, drowning in their blue depth.

Those eyes, full of such negative emotions directed at him, but they only made him peaceful. Their owner was a reason why he was terrified, but they calmed him down. He wanted nothing but hug their owner and cry how miserable he felt, looking for comfort.

 **"You have some nerves showing yourself here, vessel of Ddraig, especially after I told Tannin I want nothing to do with you or Ddraig." Tiamat voice broke his trance.**

"Hello, Tiamat. I am-"

 **"I know who you are, vessel of Ddraig, Hyoudou Issei."** she spat with venom. **"I also know about your connection to Lucifer. I even promised him I won't come for you. But, now you're here, your presence defiled my home. Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you?"**

Ddraig on his part was too busy with his host's body reaction to Tiamat to notice his mental one. He had hoped that his Partner would respond to her presence but not like this. He expected him to slowly imbibe small amounts of dragon energy just like he saw with his previous host in presence of a powerful dragon, however that was not the case. Instead, his host was absorbing all the energy around like a dry sponge water and was demanding more. He wanted to say something, to instruct him to stall as long as he could before escaping, but he was never given a chance.

"I have none."

 **"What?"** Tiamat was so taken aback that for a moment she forgot that she was angry. **"Surely, Ddraig or Tannin had warned you about me. So what, you were thinking that Lucifer's protection would be enough? That you can come here and demand anything from me?"** she continued, anger returning with every word.

"No, I didn't even know I had it. And both Old man and Ddraig had warned me, but I still came here to beg you to train me."

 **"Beg? You are a dragon, pride is all we have, and you came here to beg me? What kind of dragon are you to be willing to beg anyone?"**

"Didn't Old man- I mean Tannin tell you?"

 **"Like I listened to anything he had to say."** she snorted. **"I told him to get lost the moment he mentioned Ddraig."**

Tiamat was yet again confused by his reaction. Issei simply laughed.

"Then that may be a reason why you shouldn't kill me. What kind of dragon am I? Simple. A dying one. So, why should you bother killing me when you can just sit back and wait for me to die slowly and painfully because of something Ddraig did?"

 **"Explain. Now."**

"Let's make a deal, Tiamat-sama." she only growled in response and push him harder to the ground. "You let me go, we sit with a cup of tea or something like that and I will answer all of your questions."

She didn't respond for several minutes. She was glaring at him still holding him pinned to the ground, but it seemed that there was a part of her that wanted answers more than to kill him.

Suddenly, she took a step back from Issei and let him go. Her body was enveloped by a pale blue aura and she transformed into young, beautiful woman with hair same color that her aura.

"Wait here. If you get anywhere close to my cave, I'll kill you." she turned back and went into the cave leaving shocked Issei on the ground.

'I can't believe that that worked.' he sat up but stayed in the same place, no need to tempt fate any more than he already did.

Ddraig decided to keep quiet. He also couldn't believe that his host managed to convince Tiamat to have a conversation with him over the cup of tea. Best he had ever done was convince her to increase her attack strength and speed, so it was probably for better to leave talking to Issei.

He also found something peculiar in his host body. While Tiamat was angry, aggressive and not really prone to help, her energy was, for lack of a better word, friendly.

And not only for his body but also Ddraig's energy. While it pushed excess of his energy from his host body taking its place, it wasn't fighting for it, simply his energy welcomed and made the place for it. He didn't understand what was happening, usually when absorbing dragon would purify that energy and use it as its own, but it seemed that Issei was absorbing Tiamat's energy in its original form.

Unfortunately, he couldn't say more since the moment Tiamat walked away, the effects stopped and Issei used all energy he absorbed to this point.

Chaos Karma Dragon returned shortly carrying a pitcher filled with blue liquid and two glasses. She used her powers to create a small table and two chairs to the side of her cave entrance.

She sat down on one of them, gestured Issei to take the second one and filled both glasses with liquid waiting for him to join her at the table.

"Tiamat-sama, do you mind if I ask something?"

"What would you do if vessel of Albion showed up here right now?" she ignored his question and asked her own.

 **"He'd fight!"** Ddraig blabbed before he could stop himself.

"Shut up, Welsh Asshole, I am talking with your vessel, not you. Well?"

"I'd probably have a breakdown, start crying and give up on my life, but I don't think that is what you're asking for."

"No, it's not."

"I won't seek conflict with him, I don't see a point in doing so. But it doesn't mean I won't defend my family, friends or myself."

Tiamat watched him for a few seconds in silence, seemingly looking for any sign of a lie.

"Hmm, it seems one of you is reasonable and cares about something more than proving that he's stronger than his brother."

"Brother?"

"Welsh Asshole and Albion were created at the same time as their opposites, and since first dragons don't have parents you can think of them as such.

But that's not important. I want to know why you are here, why you seek my help if not to defeat your so-called eternal enemy, but mostly, what you meant by [dying dragon]." it was obvious that Tiamat liked more, or at least hated less, one of the Heavenly Dragons.

Issei didn't answer, instead, he grabbed his glass and took a sip. He promised to answer all Tiamat's questions and he intended to keep his word, but talking about his condition made it more real and depressing.

Whatever was in the glass was nothing like anything he had ever drunk. If he had to guess he'd say it was made of some fruits, it was rather sweet but it left a delicate sour taste, but most importantly, it was-

"Delicious! What is it?"

"Don't you dare to avoid my questions..." Tiamat growled angrily.

"Sorry, it's just... It's probably the best thing I've ever drunk, I got distracted." he scratched the back of his head chuckling nervously.

"It's made from Dragon Fruits and blueberries cultivated by Undines from that lake. Now, my answers."

"It's rather simple, I meant exactly what [dying dragon] means. I am dragon and I am dying"

Issei sighed and began explanation about his first meeting with Ddraig, his offer and you know how this goes. He was getting quite used to it, there weren't as many pauses and he didn't have to ask Ddraig for help. He also added how Tannin was unable to help him and how he suggested asking her.

During his whole speech, Tiamat was quiet and didn't react, though he could swear that he saw a glimpse of a look of sympathy when he mentioned his explosion in hospital, but it disappeared so quickly that it could be only his imagination.

"From what I understand, you may be my only hope so... I came here to beg for your help."

"You'd beg me to train you... just because you're dying?"

"Is it really that weird?"

"You'd be surprised how many dragons died because they were too prideful to accept an offer of help, let alone how many died because they were too stubborn to ask for it."

Silence fell on them again. Issei said all he could about his condition and already asked Tiamat for help, even if he didn't voice his question directly. He didn't have any sale pitch prepared if only because he didn't have anything to offer, so he could only wait for her answer.

Tiamat continued to watch him with an emotionless face but her poker face mask didn't last long as it lost with her thoughts.

Issei could barely hold his laugh watching the myriad of ways her face had turned in such short time. First was frown of confusion combined with a tilted head. Her eyebrows rose just a moment later like she had found her answer, but not even a second later the frown returned and she tilted her head to the other side. Then she grimaced and shook her head only to narrow her eyes and look back at him bitting on her lower lips.

He didn't know what she was thinking but it seemed that she either was having an internal debate or was trying very hard to understand something. It could mean that she was considering helping him and his hopes rose a little bit at that thought.

"Tell me about yourself." she finally said after few minutes.

"Huh? Why?" that was not something Issei predicted. He saw three possibilities. She could agree, tell him to leave or kill him. Continue small talk was not on the list.

"I'm the one asking questions, you are the one answering."

"Yes, I know what I said. It just... I don't know what to say. Maybe if I know why you asked it'll give me an idea and I'll able to answer sensibly."

"I'm just trying to understand. You are a dragon, yet you had thrown away your pride like it's nothing and you place others in front of you. You're a vessel of Ddraig, but you said you don't care about White One."

"I didn't say that." he said causing Tiamat to growl angrily. "I said that I am not interested in fighting him or her, but it doesn't mean that I don't care about someone who holds Sacred Gear with the same potential as mine and might show up one day with the intention to kill me."

"That's..." she had started but stopped with a sigh. "That's actually pretty smart, I can't blame you for taking the threat seriously."

"I still don't know what answers you are looking for. Two months ago I was a regular boring human teenager... Well, maybe above average in carelessness and perversion... Then I had been killed for possessing Boosted Gear by a Fallen and resurrected by Buch- Rias Gremory. The rest you already know as it was part of my explanation what brought me here. As for the pride... I was raised by humans and I considered myself one for the majority of my life, maybe it's their influence, or, like I said, I just don't want to die more than I value my pride."

"No, pride is the second most important thing to any dragon, no amount of influence can change it. Your instincts should scream at you, it should physically hurt you to act like that... What's your treasure?"

"I don't have any." he shrugged.

"You must have one, maybe you just didn't find out what it is.

Tell me a story of Hyoudou Issei. What events made you who you are, what drives you in life, what is your goal."

"Like... An autobiography?" he asked confused but his question made Tiamat even more confused. She was a dragon who stayed away from almost anyone, only contacts with the world outside her cave and its surroundings was when she worked with Satans and occasionally visit from familiar master or Tannin, so she had no idea what he meant.

Thankfully for the two Ddraig have a little more experience in both humans culture than Tiamat and in being a dragon than Issei, so he understood both what Tiamat wanted and what autobiography is.

 **"Yes, Partner. Tell about your life like you would in your autobiography."**

That answered what Tiamat wanted from him, but not what he should say. Until recently he never looked back at his life, he always focused on future and his dream to become the Harem King. The only time idea of telling a story of his life came up before was when he joked with Matsuda and Motohama how he would give them a signed copies of his book, "Hyoudou Issei. The Harem King", so they could use it to impress the girls showing that they knew him. But it was just a joke and he had only a title and it wasn't even an imaginative one.

 **'Beginning is always a good place to start, Partner.'**

Issei couldn't argue with that, so he began from the earliest memories he had, or even earlier. And since he still didn't know what she wanted to hear he told her everything. He told Tiamat about his parents and how they always wanted a child but were not blessed with one until finally he showed up. He told her who he was, an only child in an average middle-class Japanese family living in small town in a small house in the suburbs. He spoke about his childhood and how his peers treated him, and about Rin. He really opened up and described how they always played together, probably in much more details than it was necessary, and how his life was ruined after Rin moved to England. He told how he felt abandoned and lonely, and how he tried to keep it from his parents. He explained how it lead him to the outskirts of the park where he met the old man who was telling the stories to few kids and how he sat nearby to listen. He told her how he came back every day and became the only listener spending the whole day listening to him, and how it "opened his eyes to the truth about oppai" and made him a "perverted beast". He quickly covered his middle school, but still told Tiamat that his perverted nature made him an outcast with only two friends, who were just as perverted as he was. He told her about his dream and why he chose Kuoh Academy and how nothing changed. He repeated how he was murdered by a Fallen and how he joined ORC. He also said about meeting with Riser, his nightmare, Rating Game and his fight during the ceremony. He ended with an explanation of his latest resolutions and how his training with Tannin was unsuccessful and that it brought him here.

When he finished Tiamat started giggling and it quickly turned into a full-blown laugh.

"I see." she said after she calmed down. "I think I understand, probably better than you even." she laughed again. "You wanted to ask me something, what was it?"

"Before that, what do you mean by [better than me]?"

"You said you don't know what's your treasure. I do. And I think I understand your dream and doubts about it better than you. But, I won't tell you anything, it's for you to find out."

"Fine..." he pouted. "I wanted to ask why do you hate Ddraig."

Any sign of humor disappeared from Tiamat face replace again by a frown.

'Great way to kill the mood, Issei. Great job indeed.' he scolded himself mentally.

"Why do you want to know? You think that you can weasel your way into my good grace by fixing his wrongs?"

"I won't lie, it wouldn't be an unwelcomed output. But I want to do something for Ddraig, I owe him a lot and I never really did anything to even show that I appreciate his help."

"You owe him? You were murdered because of him and now his mistake is killing you!"

"It's not his fault that he was sealed and placed into my left arm." he tried to defend Welsh Dragon.

"It's definitely his fault for being so stupid to make three factions stop their war just to deal with him and his brother."

Issei decided that it's better to not continue this particular subject, partially because he saw a truth in those words, and moved on.

"And I am as much to blame for my situation as he. He warned me that he doesn't know about devils and can't say if it won't cause problems, but I didn't listen. I wanted his power, but I also wanted to pay as little as possible. Those wings were new to me, I couldn't even use them and I could hide them and pretend to be a normal human. Had I chose to give him my arm like he suggested I wouldn't be in such bad spot."

"Whatever you say... But, if you want to help him, why don't you ask him?"

"I... I'd like to hear your version..." Issei weakly answered.

Tiamat eyed him carefully before exploding in fury. Her roar carried the same message as her first one, but this time he wasn't a target of her emotions, but only Ddraig. It made him little relaxed... until he remembered that Welsh Dragon lived in his left arm.

'Note to self, ask Ddraig what would happen if I lose my left arm later.'

 **'Note to you, I can hear you.'**

"He doesn't remember, does he? That _asshole_ , he never cared for anyone but himself, but that's low even for him.

Drop it, it's something he had done before he was sealed, but its consequences haunts me to this day. Unless you can free his spirit from that gauntlet there's nothing you can do."

"But... is it really that bad? There must be something-"

"I told you, drop it. You know what treasure means to a dragon, and Ddraig robbed me of mine."

'Ddraig, any thoughts?'

 **'No, not really. Memories from before my imprisonment were painful so I tried to not think too much about them and... I don't remember much anymore...'**

"Well then, you answered my questions, vessel of Ddraig. You can leave now."

"But you're not going to help me." Issei's shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat.

"Were you someone else and not the vessel of Ddraig... Then maybe, if not for you then for Lucifer, but I won't do anything for _him_." she jerked her head toward his left arm.

"Ehh, I feel like I should be grateful but... I can't stop thinking that it would be better if you just killed me here..."

"Huh?" Tiamat rose an eyebrow "How's that?"

"Well, I am going to die anyway and [Killed by the strongest Dragon King, Chaos Karma Dragon Tiamat in a glorious battle] sounds much better than [Died because he couldn't survive the power coming from his wings]..." Issei smiled sadly.

"From what I can see there wouldn't be any glorious battle or a battle at all. I can kill you without lifting a finger." Tiamat smirked.

"Oh come on! Wouldn't you do even that for me? Just bend the facts a little..."

"Can't-do. I wish you luck, Young Dragon. Now leave." Tiamat waved her hand dismantling the table and chairs and walked to her cave.

Issei sighed and walked away without a destination in mind; anywhere but here sounded like a good idea.

He ended up wandering through the Familiar Forest for several hours seemingly alone until Ddraig decided to speak.

 **'You good, Partner?'**

'I... I'm not sure. I didn't expect Tiamat to agree, but I could hope. Now, it's definite, she won't help me and there's nothing I can do.'

 **'So, what now?'**

'Do I look like someone with a plan? Though, I was thinking of finding deserted island away from civilization and hiding there until I die.'

Ddraig was ready to yell at his host how stupid he is and how he will miss the chance that Tiamat gave him, but he realized something.

Issei had almost none experience in using his energy and he probably hasn't noticed that he absorbed Tiamat's energy. Telling him that those few hours he spent with Chaos Karma Dragon did more for him than the whole week of training could backfire. The optimistic outcome was that Issei will agree with him and return to his training with a newfound vigor in hope that this energy would be enough to kickstart his growth and ensure his survival. However, the pessimistic outcome was that he won't see it and give up on his life.

The second outcome was more likely seeing that he was already close to it and he wasn't thinking logically at this moment.

 **'I don't know of any island, but I know a mountain that could work.'**

'You want me to continue training? I thought you said it won't be enough.'

 **'It's still better than doing nothing.'**

Ddraig hated himself for saying that. Technically, he didn't lie just omitted parts of truth and it was the way the dragons interacted with others for millennia, however, he still felt bad for deceiving his host.

Issei stopped his walk and looked at his left hand with a frown.

'Ddraig, can I ask you something?'

 **'You just did.'** Ddraig laughed.

'I'm serious, Ddraig. Why do you care so much? Hell, why are you so nice to me in the first place?'

 **'I could say I blame myself for your condition, but it's a part of the truth at best... The rest would be my selfish expectations.'**

'Expectations? I don't understand, I'm your weakest host in history. If I die, you will be transferred to new, probably stronger, host.'

 **'You've hit the nail on the head, but that's exactly the problem.'**

'Huh?'

 **'The worst part of this prison is the endless cycle of reincarnation parody. I'm transferred to the new host, forced to wait until they awaken Boosted Gear unable to interact with them or the world around them. Then, if they awaken the Gear it's always the same; explanations how it works, enjoying some fights and watching them die. And I'm again transferred to the new host, but not always immediately, sometimes it takes years to find a new host and even then it's not guaranteed they will awaken the Gear's power.**

 **You, on the other hand, have already awakened it and actually treat me as a living being, that was not always the case. Stronger not always means better host, Partner. Also, you are a devil and have more potential than I could hope for, even if it takes years to become strong. You will live for millennia, and that is another reason on its own.**

 **To sum it up, you're my best chance to stay in one place for some time and enjoy the interaction with you and the world around you.'**

'But... Your next host can become a devil as well.'

 **'Or he can join the church and die fighting devils, or he can be killed by Fallens like you but not lucky enough to be reincarnated by a devil. Or never unlock his Sacred Gear, or treat me like an object and demand my powers and a knowledge how to use them before locking me away. I'll take what I have right now.'**

'I see. I'm sorry.'

 **'For what, Partner?'**

'I was thinking only about me... And I sort of treated you like a walking encyclopedia.'

 **'Still better than most, at least you asked me and not demanded to shovel it into your head.'**

'I could do that? Huh, glad I didn't know...'

 **'And why's that?'**

'Let's be real, I was desperate and wanted power, had I known you could just shovel all knowledge into my head I would take it and I wouldn't have a chance to get to know you.'

 **'So... Will you do back to Tannin? For me?'**

'I don't want to bother him, I'm sure he has something better to do than training a guy who will die shortly...'

 **'Why don't you let Tannin decide that?'**

'Fine...' Issei groaned. 'You win, I'll go to him tomorrow morning, for now, let's go back to the camp.' he conceded and looked around.

'Speaking of which, do you know where the camp is? I'm kinda lost...' young dragon scratched back of his head chuckling.

 **'Why am I not surprised?'** Ddraig asked amused.

 **'You are facing roughly the right direction, I'll tell you if you stray from the path.'**

* * *

 ***Meanwhile with Tiamat***

After she finished her conversation with Ddraig's vessel Tiamat walked back to her cave and tried to resume her routine, however it turned to be difficult.

She tried to read the book, but her thought quickly had left the pages and moved to her guest.

She tried to understand why she felt connected to the boy but she tried to blame it on her bond with Ddraig.

When she noticed that she was not reading she groaned and walked to her garden in hopes that manual labor will keep her mind occupied enough to stop thinking, but unfortunately she was wrong. She worked on autopilot and her thought wandered back to the previous topic.

It couldn't be her bond. Sure, she felt it when the boy showed up but the longer he was here the more she felt close to him not the spirit sealed in his left arm. This was new, when she was near previous hosts of Welsh Dragon all she could feel was Ddraig, no matter how long or close she was near them it was just Welsh.

She roared furiously and destroyed the trees near her cave in a rage after she realized yet again she was thinking about them. She decided to train to blow off some steam.

What was special about this host that she almost forgave Ddraig for abandoning her... He was her mate, her chosen one, dragon who was supposed to be the father of her offspring and he left to fight his brother. Had he left before marking her as his, it would be fine, she would forgive him, but no... He left after bonding leaving her alone without any hope to start a family with another dragon because he was so stupid that he got sealed. Had he died, the mark would be voided. Had he returned, she would have her offsprings flying around here somewhere. But, he had been sealed and technically was alive but he couldn't be the father of her hatchling without a body.

Colossal fireball made of pale blue Chaos Flames exploded high in the sky. Tiamat was livid. Whatever she had done her thoughts came back to Ddraig and the boy. She didn't want to think about it.

She had sworn to haunt every host of Ddraig and end the battle with the White One before it even began. But it was futile, either she had never found him or she did, killed him and he was transferred to a new host again and again... She gave up her quest, it wouldn't change anything and she only felt exhausted and depressed by seeing her mate in this prison. It didn't mean that she didn't kill them when they showed up nearby. So why did she want to protect the boy rather than kill him? Why did she felt like she should help him?

Tiamat transformed into her dragon form and went hunting. It had always helped her clear her mind, there was only she and her prey, nothing else mattered. Even if creatures living in the Familiar Forest weren't a match for her she always limited herself to make it just a little challenging and enjoyed the peace of mind it offered.

She almost lost it when a treacherous though [Would Issei preferred minotaur or centaur meat] popped up in her mind. That was it. She will find out what he was, why she felt like this and why she couldn't stop thinking about him.

Even if she had to be close to Ddraig, she had to get her answers or she would go crazy.


	10. Dragon Prince

During his stay in Dragon Mountains Issei missed many things, especially after his residency in Tannin's cave was cut short. He didn't blame his trainer for this, he understood that dragon's family safety takes priority over his convenience and that housing someone who's energy can explode at any time again is as far as it gets from it, but he was just a teenager thrown into rather extreme conditions away from his home for the first time in his life.

Obviously, he missed his parents and friends, the time he spent with them relaxing or goofing around. He missed meals prepared by his mom, his computer, his bed and pillow... He simply missed his life back home and the comfort it offered.

He also missed few things he would not have expected, like school (boring lessons are better than running away from a dragon), being beaten by Kendo Club (getting hit by a wooden sword swung by a girl is much more enjoyable than getting hit by a spiked dragon tail), and his alarm clock. He didn't miss being wakened up early, that was still present, rather he missed the way it did it. Who wouldn't prefer the voice of beautiful girl over the roar of a dragon or explosion next to you? Even if they were just recordings based on romance archetypes and he didn't know the girls they were still better. Yes, even yandere one threatening to burn his bed jealous of his relationship with it. If only because his alarm clock couldn't burn his bed, dragons on the other hand...

Not that Tannin ever did. While he dubbed it [unnecessary luxury] and mocked him for his choice of the bed near forest over a cave, he respected his decision. That's why when his bed started getting warm he presumed it was just the sun heating it, it might've been the first time he wasn't wakened up before dawn. But when the temperature kept rising he opened his eyes and looked around only to found his bed burning!

He jumped out of his bed like it was on fire... OK, it was, but it's still good description... And yelled at his trainer.

"Old man, what the... Tiamat-sama?" He noticed that the dragon next to him wasn't his trainer. That explained why the flames were blue.

 **"I see Tannin exaggerated how luxurious your camp is."** Tiamat said looking around.

'Luxurious?!' Issei thought shocked. His camp contained: bed made of sacks filled with grass, which just burned... bonfire and small stack of wood so he didn't have to use his flames when he's too tired, table and chair or at least that's how he called the boulders that he chiseled a little to act as them, and that's it. Only [luxury] you can find here would be a waterfall nearby which acted as a shower...

 **"Before you ask, yes, I'm here to train you. And yes, Tannin will be back later to help.**  
 **Rules. If you want my help you will do everything I say, exactly like I say and you won't question anything, but you'll answer any questions I may have. Is that clear?"**

"Yes, Tiamat-sama. Thank you." Issei was almost crying from relief at this point.

 **"Before we start, I want one thing from you. Promise me... No, swear an oath that you will not fight Albion's vessel-"**

"No. I won't jeopardize my friends and family safety like that." Issei interrupted.

 **"As much as I admire your dedication to protect them, let me finish, vessel of Ddraig."** Tiamat growled making Issei swallow heavily.

 **"Swear an oath that you will not fight Albion's vessel if you can avoid it. Swear that you won't attack him when he shows up, you won't react to his taunts nor will you provoke him to attack first. I don't want you to run from him, but I want you to at least try to avoid conflict. If he attacks you or your friends then you can do whatever you want."**

"I told you earlier, I won't seek a fight with him. I swear I won't do anything to start a conflict between us."

 **"Great."** Tiamat had an evil grin on her face. **"Now, run!"**

And with that, his training under Tiamat began. At first, Issei was confident, after all, running away from Tannin was base of his training so far, but he was wrong. He thought that Tannin was a monster, but if that was true, then he didn't have a word to describe Tiamat.

It didn't matter how inhuman and harsh Blaze Meteor Dragon's ways of training were, Chaos Karma Dragon had even more twisted and sadistic equivalent.

Running away from a dragon? Immensely harder when said dragon didn't give you a headstart and was actually aiming directly at you and not in your general direction. Issei learned it the hard way when a fireball explosion sent him flying into a tree. When he was getting up he expected a little breather and some time to resume his escape as usual, but he was met with a lighting hitting the ground next to his feet and a shout [Did I tell you to stop?!].

Tiamat also didn't limit herself to fire. He tried to hide in the forest and use trees as a way to interrupt fireballs? Lightning quickly found its way to him. He tried to hide behind a massive boulder? Even larger one was thrown at him. Or she simply dived at him and attacked him with her tail or claws.

Jogging with a boulder tied to your back? Apparently, it's the wrong approach as it didn't train your muscles evenly (who knew?). Instead, Tiamat enchanted his clothes. She didn't change their mass, she changed their weight or even more accurately, the force they exerted on Issei but not his surroundings. If he were to stand on the scale it would show his normal weight, but he felt like he was wearing cloaths made from lead. She told him to wear them all the time and that she will adjust their weight for different exercises. Also, jogging is boring, so you should expect being attacked from time to time or that your jog will turn into steeplechase without a warning.

Weightlifting was deemed unnecessary, Tiamat said that she will just increase the weight of his clothes as he progresses.

Training with magic was postponed until he'll train his body but Tiamat mentioned that she will implement it into his jogging rather than separate exercise.

On top of that, she extended the training session to the point that Issei was afraid that exhaustion will kill him faster than his condition... That is if Tiamat won't do it even faster.

And she said that she expects that he'll be ready for a proper fight with her in just a few days. Issei was already scared what kind of beating he will receive.

His life turned even worse because of that. He trained until he passed out and when he woke up he trained again. He was sure that he didn't go to sleep during this period and only breaks were for him to eat something.

* * *

The training continued for the next two weeks with only four interesting events.

After four days Tiamat had stopped referring to him as the vessel of Ddraig and called him Issei for the first time. Although, she still refused to call Ddraig anything but Welsh Asshole and pretended that he didn't exist unless she wanted something from him.

His first fight with Chaos Karma Dragon went better than expected: he actually survived her first strike but second sent him into in the arms of Morpheus.

Somewhere during the second week of training (he lost his track of time due to his [irregular sleeping schedule]) he woke up in unusual conditions. Normally after he passed out Tiamat waited nearby or left the area, but this time when he opened his eyes he found her lying next to him using her wing to cover him. But when he asked her about it she tried to dodge the question by throwing a fireball at him and reminding him that he's not allowed to ask questions. He didn't raise that subject again.

The last thing was... Issei found a scale.

.

.

.

Surprising, isn't it? He found a scale in the Dragon Mountains in the area where he was constantly accompanied by at least one dragon. What are the chances of something like that? However, it has more sense when you take into consideration where exactly he found it.

It was small red scale with sharp edges, located between his shoulder blades.

At first, Issei thought that the pain he felt was a result of his physical training (read: beating he received) but it turned out there was more to it. It seemed that Ddraig was right and fusion of his demonic energy and dragon fire indeed caused him to grow scales. According to him, Issei's body was reacting to Tiamat's energy, but there was nothing to worry about; the energy was distributed evenly throughout his body which was storing and slowly imbibing it without any problems. As his training went on, the tempo of the reaction escalated, but since Issei never said anything Welsh Dragon assumed that everything was still fine. And it seemed that it reached the level where it started altering his body directly and turning it into dragon equivalent. However, it raised a question what the final effects of it will be. Will he turn into a dragon or humanoid dragon? Or maybe the transformation won't be complete and he'll turn into abomination with parts of his body being dragon-like and parts human/human looking devil?

Ddraig didn't have an answer. None of his previous hosts turned into a dragon via exposition to dragon energy, it only happened in the Juggernaut Drive and then it was almost instantaneous process changing their whole body at once. And it ended up killing them... But while his current host situation was different, it didn't explain why despite possessing the same amount of dragon energy in the whole body only parts had transformed. Was it because of his devil side and demonic energy?

Unfortunately, neither of dragons, even Tannin who was a devil himself, knew that, but they all agreed that the best, for now, would be to continue his training. Unfortunately again, it lasted for three more days before he wasn't able to continue. When the changes reached his internal organs and the pain became unbearable dragons called for help.

* * *

Sirzechs Lucifer stepped out from a magic circle and walked towards Tannin. He didn't know why he was asked to come here, but he was sure it's something important and bad, otherwise, the dragon wouldn't bother him.

The Devil King hoped that he was wrong and it was good news or at least it wasn't something too serious so he could help. He loved his sister and had big plans for the boy, but he couldn't risk his position as a Maou, not with Old Satan Faction recent activity.

"Tannin-dono. You wanted to see me?" he greeted the dragon.

 **"Ah, Lucifer-sama. Yes, we require your assistance-"** Tannin began his explanation but was interrupted by a pale-blue haired woman who walked straight to Sirzechs and poked him in the chest.

"Bring me Beelzebub. Now." she said and walked away.

"Tiamat-dono?" Lucifer asked surprised but she ignored him and disappeared behind a barrier, so he turned back to Tannin "How did you convince her to help?"

 **"I didn't, hatchling did, but he doesn't know how. He said that she refused, and yet she showed up next day looking for him."** dragon shrugged **"However if I had to guess I'd say it has something to do with how she started to refer to him as _her hatchling_."**

Lucifer's eyes widen and he barely kept his mouth closed. The wellbeing of the Sekiryuutei had just become number one priority, even if he had to make it official. Because no matter how badly Rias would react if something happened to the boy, or she found out that they were lying to her, the consequences would only affect his family, but Tiamat's involvement was a threat for the entire Underworld.

Of course, he was confident that if the things turned for the worst he would defeat Chaos Karma Dragon, especially with other Satans help, but the damage to Hell would be severe. And if dragons take it as a declaration of war and rebel, or other factions use that as their chance to eliminate Devils... There may not be Hell left to rule.

Sirzechs shook his head to clear his thoughts, there's no point in thinking about the worst outcome when he didn't even know what the problem was. He followed Tiamat sending a message to Ajuka on the way.

He was impressed by the quality of the concealment barrier behind which Tiamat had disappeared. He, the strongest devil alive, could barely sense anything standing next to it. And while he wasn't the best in espionage and scouting as he was more of a fighter during the war and both Serafall and Ajuka would probably sense it easier, it still said a lot about the caster.

It was also his third warning, after dragon's message and Tiamat's behavior, that something is terribly wrong, otherwise, there wasn't any reason for such barrier to be erected other than to keep Tiamat's involvement a secret. But he doubted it, they were in the Dragon Mountains and Chaos Karma Dragon had every right to be here, the barrier was too small to hide them during training, and it would be a too nice coincidence that his arrival and the barrier weren't connected.

His last warning came in form of expensive and comfortable looking king-size bed he saw after he had crossed the barrier. He didn't know much about Tiamat, but dragons as the species believed in a concept of tough love and training their young ones in harsh conditions until they were strong enough to get what they wanted by themselves. It was a reason why they had ruled the world before the Dragon Hunt and such bed definitely didn't fit that culture.

Most of Lucifer's questions were answered by the state of the boy lying on the bed. He was shirtless and it showed his well-built body, the time spend training truly did wonders for his muscles. Although, it was everything good Devil King could say, the rest wasn't pleasant. The boy was pale, his unnaturally twisted body was covered in sweat and rash, scales were scattered across his skin. His left arm was fully covered in them and his hand looked more like a claw, and the same could be said about his right leg, which was longer, thicker and was bend forward rather than lying flat on the bed. As Lucifer got closer he barely held back a wince when he saw the boy's face. Apart from grimace of pain, it didn't look human-like. His left eye was reptilian, its blue color shone from the reflected dim light, but his right eye was still human and brown. His lower part of the face from nose to jaw was extended forward forming small snout, but his skin and scales haven't covered its whole giving clear sight of the mingled human teeth and dragon fangs, which gave him a rather unnerving look. To worsen his hideous appearance, he had lost most of his hairs and was growing horns.

Lucifer now understood what the problem was and was sure about two things: the boy must have been in unimaginable pain and his little Ria-tan can't see him like this or learn anything about his condition. But he had no idea how it happened or even what exactly happened.

Obviously, the [Pawn] was slowly changing into a dragon, but what sort of a dragon? And what did it mean for his Evil Pieces? Will he reject his Pieces and became purely dragon? Will he keep his demonic energy fused with his fire? Will he become dragon devil hybrid? Maybe something like Buné Clan?

Sirzechs shook his head to clean his thoughts again. Whatever happened he probably won't be able to deduce it just from looking at the boy. And with Ajuka coming in shortly he should worry about boy's condition more as the answers will come later. He willed his smile back to his face and approached the boy, who immediately tried to stand up when he saw Devil King earning a glare from Tiamat.

"Don't stand up, Issei-kun, there's no need for that" Sirzechs said.

"Lucifer-sama, it's a pleasure seeing you, but, if I may, what brings you here?" Issei asked. Or at least tried to but his forming snout and irregular teeth turned his speech into an almost incomprehensible mumble making it hard for Sirzechs to understand him.

The Devil King didn't comment it, it wasn't boy's fault and pointing this out wouldn't change anything, it would only make him feel worse. However, his question made Lucifer curious. He was asked to come here but it seemed that the boy didn't know this. He glimpsed at Tiamat and the look she gave him confirmed it.

"I heard about your condition and came to see if I can help with something. How do you feel, Issei-kun?"

"I... I am fine, Lucifer-sama. Thank you for asking."

"Yeah, I can see that." Sirzechs chuckled. "Let's forget that I am Devil King for a moment and tell me how do you really feel."

"Terrible." Issei sighed and slumped down onto the bed. "I have a migraine from a different kind of vision in each eye and my hearing switching between almost deaf and supersensitive. My whole body is burning, especially my skin, and even the slightest movement makes it worse. Growing a tail also isn't a pleasant feeling. But I am not dying, so there's that."

"You should've asked my father to send you some painkillers or some stronger anesthetic."

"If I believed it could help I would." Tiamat responded with a voice cold as tundra. "He's a dragon and that means he's immune, or at least highly resistant right now, to all poisons, and as nice as it sounds, it also means that he's immune to most conventional drugs and I don't want you to experiment on him. I brought herbs that help reduce pain but there's only so much they can do."

Reluctant to poke an angry dragon Lucifer backed off with simple "Sorry, I didn't know" and watch in disbelief how Tiamat affectionately brushed Issei's hair. Not so long ago he had to spend two hours to convince her that, whatever Welsh Dragon had done, going after his current host wasn't worth getting into conflict with the Underworld, and now? She was acting like an overprotective mother would with her sick child. What in the Hell happened?

Before he decided whether or not he should voice his thought Ajuka walked into the barrier.

"Sirzechs, what is so important that- Oh, hello Tiamat." Beelzebul tried to ask.

In response, she rushed to him, grab his collar and pulled him to the bed.

"His Pieces are acting up. Fix them." she growled.

Satan glanced at his friend looking for an explanation, but Lucifer only mouthed "later." He shrugged and turned to the boy and poked his finger at dragon's chest creating many small magic-circles to examine his pieces.

"So, Tiamat, here's where you've been past two weeks, huh? Surprising, I thought you said [I want nothing from Sekiryutei other than watch him die], what changed?" he tried to start a conversation.

"Less talking, more fixing."

"I have to examine them thoroughly to avoid any mistakes and I am fully capable of having small talk with you at the same time, so what changed?"

"I... I... He... That's none of your business."

"I guess not, I was just curious." Beelzebub shrugged and turned to Issei. "Looks like you are trying to do something interesting. I wonder-"

"Can you fix his pieces or not?" Tiamat interrupted.

"I can't fix what isn't broken. But I've made some modifications that should help."

"Great, then leave. My hatchling needs rest."

Ajuka's eyes widen and he looked at Sirzechs silently asking what she meant, but Lucifer only shrugged and gestured his friend to follow him leaving dragons alone.

"What did you find?"

"Two things. One which we should've foreseen, it was obvious that fusing dragon fire with demonic energy would affect his pieces."

"Maybe for you, I still don't have any idea what you are talking about since you had never bothered to explain how your creation works" Lucifer defended himself.

"I did!" Sirzechs shook his head. "Really? Huh, whatever. Pieces were designed to coexist with any powers or species traits that recipient possess but also to not interfere with them to avoid any complications. Like Tannin's [Queen] piece had no effect on his dragon fire. But in this case, there's a direct connection between his pieces and dragon fire and it opened them to the influence of dragon energy that also comes from his Longinus. It's affecting the power of chess pieces. The trait is being used on something else and is changing a bit, but the effects are too small to say what exactly it is."

"I see, we have to keep a close eye on him. And the other thing?"

"He's trying to use part of the pieces used to resurrect recipients as devils."

"What!? But he is a devil and pieces can't be used again."

"The thing is when your sister resurrected him she used eight pieces, but it was mostly a price for his Longinus and the spirit of Welsh Dragon, it was a buffer for his potential, but only one piece was used to change him into a devil the rest was sealed."

"Yes, I know, I was there with you when he said about it and Ria-tan mentioned it earlier."

"No, not that seal. I am talking about an automatic seal inside [Evil Pieces] that is activated when multiple pieces are used. It locks the spell and unused energy used to turn recipient into a devil. He's trying to get past the seals in the [Pawns] and use that energy to turn himself into a dragon. Or rather a dragon-devil hybrid as he will most likely keep devil's traits."

"I agree, that's interesting. But also troublesome. What did you do with his pieces?"

"I altered them slightly so they won't malfunction due to messy overwritten code and so they send me an update from time to time. I also lessen the seals so he'd have freer access to the energy in them. I considered removing it entirely, but seeing his condition I'm not sure he would survive that."

"And now?"

"I don't know, it's something new, I have no idea what the result will be. I'd have to run some tests, but I don't think Tiamat will agree. Speaking of which, what's her deal?"

"I don't know much more than you." Sirzechs sighed tiredly. "Issei asked her for help and she agreed for the unknown reason. Tannin's theory is that it has something to do with how she refers to him as her hatchling, but I don't know why she does that."

"Hmmm. I have a theory that may explain most of what is happening, but I'm not sure if it's good news."

"Shoot. I doubt it can be that bad."

"He's not changing into a dragon, he's being reborn as one with Welsh and Chaos Karma Dragons as parents."

"But... Reborn? How?..."

"First dragons were born from pure energy and I could sense energies of both of them in his body next to his. Welsh's is easily explained by his Longinus or his wings but it doesn't make sense for Tiamat's energy."

"I take my words back. If something happens to the boy it will be worse than I imagined."

"Yes, we have to ensure little Dragon Prince safety."

"Dragon Prince? I don't think dragons have such title." Sirzechs tilted his head confused.

"Well, there wasn't a child of Emperor and Queen earlier."

"Tiamat is a Dragon King and I think that they don't treat that titles as royalty rather as a sign of respect."

"Either way," Ajuka waved his hand dismissively. "we have to make sure he'll make through that change alive so Tiamat won't blame us. What's your plan?"

"I'll take him to my parents." Sirzechs said. Soon after the words left his mouth he turned pale and his shoulders slumped.

"What's wrong?" Ajuka asked more intrigued than worried.

"I have to convince overprotective dragon-mama that she has to entrust her son safety and health to devils because she can't take care of him alone. And if I fail, or I succeed but something still happens to him, she has enough power to destroy Hell in revenge."

"Oh, that." Beelzebub laughed. "Yeah, leave it for your sister to bring you troubles that affect whole Underworld."

"And here I thought he was the first member of her peerage that didn't cause the international crisis by joining it. Not her fault though, she only wanted to save them, I can't blame her for it." Lucifer smiled.

"Good luck with convincing her, I'll get back to my lab and see what can I find about his condition and what can we do to help."

With that, he disappeared and Lucifer walked back to dragons.

* * *

Issei opened his eyes in his mindscape confused. He didn't know how he got here, maybe Ddraig took him here after he fell asleep?

"Hey Ddraig, what happened?" he asked dragon lying next to him.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Welsh Dragon responded frightening him, nothing good ever followed such question.

"I was... I was playing a board game with Millicas in my room, I think." Issei said after a moment of thinking.

"Your transformation reached your heart when you were sitting with Young Fake-Lucifer. Good news is that it means that it's almost finished, you survived the worst part and you will be fine, however, your reaction to it was rather violent."

"Ddraig. What. Happened."

"Your energy exploded and you're technically in the coma since I brought your consciousness here, but don't worry, like I said, you'll be perfectly fine. You'll wake up as a healthy dragon and-"

"What happened to Millicas?" Issei interrupted.

"Oh, that's what you're worried about. Nothing, at least nothing serious. You threw him outside the barrier before the explosion. He hit the wall quite hard, but I'm sure that devils will agree that it was a better outcome than staying inside."

Issei released his breath he didn't realize he was holding. "That bad?"

"You annihilated everything inside the barrier, so yeah, that bad." Ddraig smirked.

"At least no one was hurt, I'll take that as a victory. Sooooo...  
What now?"

"Like I said, you'll wake up as a healthy dragon, but... I don't know how long it'll take and I cannot really interact with outside world; I waited too long to bring you here and we're kind of stuck here."

"What do you mean?" Issei asked nervously.

"Well... I should've taken control earlier, but I saw how you wanted to make sure the boy is out of the barrier and, um... I was a little too late. As a result, the explosion threw your consciousness deep into your soul and I was pulled with you. I can try to go back, but there's a risk that you'll follow and... *sigh* There's no good way of saying this. The transformation is painful and the only reason you don't feel any of it is that you're basically disconnected from your body. If your consciousness follows me-"

"I'll feel the pain. No, thank you, I think I've felt enough of it recently, I'll take a coma."

"My thoughts exactly."

Issei looked around only to see that nothing changed. It was still empty grassland except the two of them.

"What can we do to kill time in here?"

"We can train."

"I meant something fun, Ddraig..." Issei sighed.

"Well, we can fight but I considered it as the part of the training, so..." dragon shrugged.

"Yeah... no. I'd like to rest a little. What are you doing when I'm not here?"

"Not much, sleep, sometimes watch what you are doing if it's something interesting, or I watch battles of my previous hosts."

"You jest." Issei watched Welsh dragon in disbelieve who shook his head. "Damn, you really don't have much in your life... I'll have to do something about this. But now I'm stuck here as you said, so... Are the battles your host memories? Like the one you showed me mine from the Rating Game?"

"Aye. And some mine own from before the imprisonment."

"We can start with watching some and then we'll think what to do next." Issei suggested with a smile making Ddraig laugh. "What?"

"That is what I meant by training or the first step of it at least. Obviously, you can't train your body in here, but I can show you different techniques of my previous hosts and you can practice them here. When you wake up you'll have to learn again how to perform them, but, as long as your body is capable of performing them, it'll be more like remembering moves you haven't use in a while rather than learning them from the beginning."

"Huh, sounds awesome!" Issei beamed.

"I know, I am amazing, you don't have to say it." Ddraig chuckled. "Let's start with Belzard, he was the strongest Red Dragon Emperor in history and killed two White-Ones. It will show you how badass you can become, but I expect you to surpass him." 'My son' Ddraig finished in his thoughts.

* * *

 **AN.**

 **Happy new year!**

I could post it earlier, but I wanted to end up with Issei back in Kuoh. However, I have troubles writing parts of it (like his talk with his parents) and I'm not sure when it will be ready. And I kind of promised myself that I'll post the chapter in 2017... only little over two and half hour late, yey... Well, it's still 2017 in America so it counts.

A cookie for Primordialdragon who said in review what is happening to Tiamat :)  
On that note, please don't ask questions from guest accounts. Not that I don't appreciate them, 'cuz I do, but I don't have any way to respond to you and it makes me feel bad :(


	11. Issei's character sheet

**Chapter 10 added 01.01.2018 according to timestamp. If you haven't read it don't read this character sheet, spoilers.**

A while back I said I'll post Issei's character sheet, but I was delaying it since I made his stay in Underworld and events that led to it much longer (in terms of chapters and events) then I thought I will... But I think I covered everything important, so here it is. It contains minor spoilers to the next chapter (like his new appearance) but it's nothing serious. Includes things from canon to give a better picture rather than pointing changes alone.

Name: Issei Hyoudou

Age: 17

Race: Dragon-Devil hybrid (seen as: Dragon with demonic fire by dragons; Reincarnated Devil by devils; no opinion voiced by other factions yet)

Gender: male

Titles: Red Dragon Emperor (shared with Ddraig), Dragon Prince (unofficial), Perverted Beast (Kuoh Academy)

Nicknames: Ise, Partner (Ddraig), hatchling (Tannin), my hatchling / my little prince (Tiamat)

Appearance:

a) human form

Edit: I'm an idiot (thanks for pointing that out, TheLaughingStalker and leaderdbz). I wrote "new appearance" without any specifics...

His face changed slightly, but he still resembles his old self, but with some western influence. (There wasn't Ddraig's human form and Tiamat's human appearance is not specified, but I am going with simple logic: Western Dragon means Western looks in human form)

[Loosely based on Issei's description from The God of Destruction and Regrowth by Skrewksy]

"His face lost the pudgy, baby-fat most preteens had before puberty took care of it giving it more mature and serious look. His new parents' western appearance influence it and he resembled a half-foreigner more than a full-blood Japanese, but he still looked like himself, at least he thought he was. But with red hair and blue eyes, he looked more like his older half-brother than old-Issei... It could cause problems, but he hoped that there was enough resemblance to explain it by puberty. Not the eyes though. He'll have to do something about them."

\- eye color: blue  
\- hair color: red (similar, but not the same as Gremory Crimson, little darker. According to google I am thinking of Ruby shade of red... Give me a break, I'm a guy, I know two colors "I like it" and "I don't like it")  
\- height: 1m 83cm (6 feet)  
\- well-built muscular body but not too bulky

b) dragon form  
\- Western Dragon with red scales (again, Ruby shade), golden spikes and blue eyes. (smaller version of Ddraig except for his eyes)  
\- 5m (16.4ft) tall when standing on two legs  
\- tail long enough to scratch his ear, very agile

c) humanoid-dragon form  
\- his skin turns into scales, he loses his hair and his face turns into a snout. Tail and wings obligatory present.

d) chibi-dragon form  
\- a big-cat sized version of his dragon form

Relatives: "it's complicated", unnamed human parents, also considered as son of Ddraig and Tiamat

Affiliations: Kuoh Academy, Rias Gremory peerage, ORC, Underworld, Underworld Dragon Faction (unofficial)

Ranking: perverted looser (Kuoh), low-class reincarnated devil [8 pieces] (Underworld), unspecified but he's respected (Dragons), Dragon Prince (unofficial)

Equipment & Abilities

\- Flight (manually, he has to wave his wings to fly, no lazy magical bat-wings for him)

\- Boosted Gear (Second Liberation)

\- Training clothes (enchanted by Tiamat, he can modify the force they exert on him. "They don't offer any form of protection, but they are dirt-resistant and come with such self-repair ability that Phoenix would be jealous. Only 4999$ if you order in the next 15 minutes")

\- Dragon outfit (his clothes (black boots and pants, red long sleeve shirt and red leather jacket) are as durable as his scales and repair after the transformation, Kuoh Academy blazer not included)

\- Dragonification (three versions: dragon, humanoid-dragon, and chibi-dragon)

\- Enhanced Senses

\- Devil Tong

\- Dragon Language (he can understand dragon and dragon-like creature's roars, growls and squeaks, and, to a lesser extent, animals)

\- Night Vision

\- Dragon Sight (his reptilian eyes can see wider spectrum of light including infrared radiation - heat)

\- Increased durability and high magic resistance (including Holy and Divine energy) even in human form, but better in any of his dragon forms (scales for the win!)

\- Immune to fire weaker than his and almost all poisons

\- (Almost) Immune to mind control (Thanks, Ddraig! If someone wants to control Issei he/she has to be strong enough to control Welsh Dragon)

\- Second mind (again, thanks, Ddraig! Issei can outsource some tasks, like taking care of his armor later on, to the dragon in his left hand or ask him for a solution to some problems during the fights. Also, Ddraig can warn Issei if he senses a threat, like in Rating Game against Riser, and give him status updates on his body condition)

\- Autopilot (damn, Ddraig is really useful. He can temporarily take control of Issei's body if needed)

\- Aura of predator (suppressed in human and chibi-dragon form but shows when he's angry. Permanently present in dragon or humanoid-dragon form. "Prey knows when its facing predator, it will fear you. Use it.")

\- "Principle of domination" (As a host of Welsh Dragon, Issei is immune to magically induced ways of intimidation i.e. auras. Doesn't work when he is scared by normal means.)

\- Dragon instincts ("Your body has its own mind and remembers when it was hurt. If you face that danger again, it will warn you")

\- Demonic Dragon Fire: flame version of Sword Birth  
\- ice flames (blueish-white) flames that eat fire  
\- earth flames (dark brown) solid flames (his version of barrier)  
\- wind flames (transparent) illusion of flames (for later, when I decide that it's time to allow Issei use his demonic energy properly)  
\- water flames (blue) liquid flames (kind of lava), can be molded to any shape according to his will  
\- dark flames (charcoal grey) his version of Holy Eraser  
\- normal (orange)  
\- thunder flames (yellow, with sparks!) "because nothing is more savage than fireball that electrocutes you after exploding"

[reserved colors: white (Holy), crimson (Blazing Inferno of Scorching Flames), pale-blue (Tiamat's Chaos flames), black (Vritra), green (healing, yeah that is not Issei's style)]

Ideas of new flames are welcomed, but I don't guarantee that even those already listed will appear.


	12. Back to Kuoh

Issei was slowly pacing around entrance hall in Gremory Castle waiting for Grayfia to take him home. He wanted to catch Buchou and Asia before they go to school, but Lucifer forgot to prepare documents he was supposed to bring to school (although, he overheard him saying "But they were informed! And if those files are really necessary Sona-chan can make them" when the maid escorted him to his office. It seemed that King of Hell wasn't a fan of paperwork.)

On the plus side, it gave him time to recollect his memories of his training and prepare redacted version to keep his condition a secret.

First eight days were second to the worst part of his stay in the Underworld. Noones fault though. Old man Tannin was a wonderful trainer who pushed him to his limits without putting his life in danger, shame it didn't work, but it still was a hell of a training regime.

His day off to talk with Tiamat never happened because he had no idea how to explain why he went to her.

Eighteen days that followed were the worst. Partially because of his worsening condition but mostly because of Chaos Karma Dragon. Her ways of training him were extreme and he summarized them as [git gud or die]. And he meant Tiamat killing him not his condition. Her weird behavior and mood swings weren't helping either, but she was the reason he was alive and had a good explanation for it so he didn't hold it against her.

Next six days were close to the best. If only almost everyone didn't treat him like a precious piece of art that could break on slightest touch... He knew how bad he was and didn't need them reminding him of it on every step.  
But he had brief moments of normality during his lessons with Lady Venelana, Rias' mother. Truly, that woman despite being a devil had a patient of a saint, both for him being a helpless idiot who had troubles understanding almost everything she tried to teach him and for constant breaks caused by his condition.  
And of course, there was Millicas, Rias' nephew, the best thing that could happen to him right after a miracle that would heal him instantly, even if he caused him some painful moments. But Issei took a blame for it, after all, he tried to act as if nothing was wrong with him around the little crimson haired bundle of energy, and Millicas was just a kid who easily forgot about it when he got caught up in games.

Then was the time he spent in the coma. For the outside world, it lasted exactly two weeks, but it was much longer for Issei. When Ddraig said that time flows differently in his mindscape he thought that it was something akin to the feeling when you either wake up after full eight hours of sleep feeling like you barely slept or when you wake up rested in the middle of the night just to found out that you slept for an hour. It was much more than that.  
He didn't know exactly how long he was there as there wasn't any way to determine how much time passed, but he went to sleep 374 times. Assuming that one sleep corresponded to one day he spent there over a year. And since there wasn't much to do, he trained. Or talked with Ddraig about different things learning as much as he could about supernatural world or other topics he found interesting and his companion had knowledge in. He took some [days] off to relax but still, it was too long in his opinion and he wanted to get back to the real world more and more with every passing moment.  
Oh, and it provided another proof that he was an idiot. It took him the equivalent of three days to realize that his mind was ahead of his body and he had an appearance of a massive Western Dragon. Yes, it took him three days to realize that he was bigger and heavier, was walking on four legs, his head wasn't atop his body, Ddraig's voice had lost its power and sounded normal, and his vision was different. He even curled up for sleeping instead of lying on his back. And he realized it when he tried to replicate one of Belzard's martial-art techniques and noticed that he didn't have his arms. Needless to say, Welsh Dragon found it hilarious and it took him few hour to stop laughing whenever he looked at Issei.

After he woke up he spent another six days in Gremory Castle, this time in his dragon form before he learned how to change back to human. It would probably take less time if Tiamat hadn't insisted that he should train in his dragon form to learn how to properly fight in it. Or if he hadn't spent so much time flying around with Millicas on his back. Worth it in his opinion as those were definitively the best days of his stay in the Underworld.  
There were two interesting events that happened and they both took place right after he woke up. First, he was reminded how extraordinary power of devils is. According to Ddraig, he annihilated everything inside the barrier but he woke up in perfectly fine room, just how he remembered it. Except he was lying on the mattress that covered half of the floor replacing his bed. Second, he learned why Lady Venelana was called Brunette Ruin Princess when she was younger. When he discovered that, unlike in his mind, he couldn't change into human form, he faced an insurmountable barrier in form of a too small door. He was trying to find a solution with Ddraig, Tiamat, Lord Zeoticus, and quite a few servants when she walked in, looked at them like she was facing a bunch of idiots, snapped her fingers and destroyed the wall using her Power of Destruction giving him a way out, shook her head and left without a word. (Tiamat stated that she easily could do that, but [it wasn't her wall to destroy]).  
The not so great thing during his stay was Grayfia's attitude toward him. He couldn't shake off the feeling that she wasn't happy that he was there and it was getting worse the longer he stayed, but he couldn't fathom why.

The last day was without a doubt the single best day of his stay here if not his life so far. Tannin took him to Dragon Mountains because they were having a party. And the party was for him! Dragons were celebrating Sekiryuutei joining the Underworld Dragon Faction and it made him a guest of honor. He wasn't an official member because he was part of Gremory House, but such little details had never stopped dragons from doing what they wanted.  
He had a rough start with some of them, maybe because he made a mistake and went there in his human form, as they [weren't impressed] and [expected something more from the Red Dragon Emperor praised by Tannin-sama]. Ddraig was right, they recognized him as a dragon but he had to earn their respect. He did though, slightly by accident.  
One of the attractions during the party was Free-For-All Brawl of Younglings and Tiamat suggested that he should participate. He didn't think it was a good idea, after all, he had his dragon form for six days and was sure he would be beaten badly, but he agreed with Tannin that he [will never learn how to fight like a dragon if he won't try]. He turned into his dragon form and walked into the arena, which on its own was enough to convince few of the dragons that they spoke too soon.  
When the fight started he focused on the opponent closest to him and he was able to beat him in few minutes! When he looked around he noticed that there were only one of nine dragons left and he also just finished his battle. Issei was exhausted but he didn't want to give up, so he glared at his opponent waiting for his move, but the dragon only returned it. It lasted for thirty seconds before the dragon smiled, said [I acknowledge your victory, Sekiryuutei] and fell unconscious. And so, he won the brawl. What's more, it turned out that [the closest opponent] was also the strongest one, so after his victory, no one was questioning his strength anymore.  
The next events were... peculiar. Its all started with Tiamat's roar and shout [That's my little prince for you! Anyone wants to say something about my and Ddraig son's strength now?!], followed by deathly silence and Issei found out that he was wrong. Whenever Tiamat called him [her hatchling] he assumed that it was some sort of translation error, but now she clearly called him [her son]. Before he voiced his question Welsh Dragon said in his mind that [he kind of is], and that [he'll explain later].  
The combined roar of all present dragons shooked the ground and Issei was sure that they must've been heard in the whole Underworld (They weren't, but there were articles in Underworld newspapers about it. And since there wasn't a village inhabited by devils in at least 1000 kilometers (621.37 miles) radius it still was quite a roar if they were able to hear it.). At first, he didn't understand why they reacted like that, but he quickly realized that Tiamat had just announced to the dragons that he was her (the Strongest Dragon King and one of the strongest dragons) and Ddraig's (Dragon Emperor and even stronger dragon) son... it clearly made an impression.  
It also led to an interesting debate whether or not he should be called Dragon Prince, which divided present dragons into three groups. One claimed that he should be as son of King and Emperor (on the side note, Tiamat was called King despite being a female because title of [King] was unisex for dragons but it was lost in the translation), other said that they're not royalty and he needs to gain his own title, and the last pointed out that he was already called Emperor so calling him Prince was an insult. Before things escalated into a fight Tannin stepped in and said that it's a worry for another day and they should continue celebrations.  
But Issei wasn't interested in celebrating, he wanted answers so he went to talk with Tiamat. They turned into their human forms and hid in a small cave nearby looking for some privacy. To sum up the conversation: he had lots of Ddraig's energy in his body, which was still changing due to demonic energy, then he absorbed Tiamat's energy in her original form and because of her bond with Welsh Dragon they merged creating a new one. Exactly like it happened when a dragon is conceived so it turned him into weird (and painful) ectopic pregnancy... But it meant that he was a child of two dragons from Top10 Strongest in the World list (or at least Ddraig would be on it if he wasn't sealed). Neat.  
When he was processing that information he was met with the weirdest situation during his stay in Hell. Tiamat apologized. For quite a few things actually. First, for putting him in this situation without talking about it with him, but she was so excited seeing him win and frustrated when other dragons mocked her little prince earlier that she couldn't stop herself. Then, for her behavior during his training and her mood swings. Long story short, she always wanted a hatchling, but Ddraig stoled it from her being sealed after they bonded. When he absorbed some of her energy she subconsciously saw him as her child but she didn't want to accept it because she didn't understand it and he was the host of Ddraig. But since she couldn't deny how she felt she asked if he's fine with this situation and if he's willing to give her a chance as his mother.  
That ranked highly on the [Weirdest questions he had ever heard] list, in layman's terms, she wanted to adopt him despite the fact that his biological parents were alive and waiting for his return. He understood where that question came from, he also felt connected to her, but he wasn't sure if it was something that serious. And how would it even work? However, the look she had, a mixture of sadness and hope made it impossible for him to say no. When Ddraig popped up saying that technically he was reborn as dragon and Tiamat was his biological mother making his human's parents adoptive ones he decided to roll with it and accept that he had two pairs of biological parents. Otherwise, it would be too complicated for him and honestly? It wasn't even the weirdest thing in his life. And the smile on Tiamat's face when he said that he'll give it a try, but he still wants to go back to the human world made him feel so relaxed and happy that he really thought that there was truth to the dragons' words.  
And she was perfectly fine with his decision, she just wanted to be a part of his life. After Tiamat finally stopped hugging and thanking him over and over again he was turned into an unwilling witness of Welsh and Chaos Dragons' conversation about their relationship. There were a lot apologizing, mostly on Ddraig's part, promises and sweet talk and it made him feel like a child sitting on a couch in front of his divorced parents making up. In other words, really uncomfortable.  
He had to stop them when he felt like they would have a makeup sex if only Ddraig had a body and decided to leave before he asked to take control of his body for it. One, he just accepted Tiamat as his mother and he didn't want to start their new relationship with _that_. But most importantly, he will be the one who loses this body virginity, not the spirit sealed in his left hand damn it!  
He returned to the party and enjoyed the night full of eating, laughing and playing games with dragons. He felt there like he belonged with them, but not enough to forget about his life in the human world. The party ended with whole dragon pack flying together and he was leading them right in front of Tannin and Tiamat. Best. Day. Ever.

And that was it, overall probably the best 54 days of his life, but if he could change something he'd remove the pain. The redacted version was rather simple [I trained with the dragons]. There were too many details he didn't know how to explain so it will be better if he will focus on an actual training.

He stopped his pacing in front of the mirror and smiled at the cruel irony of his new appearance. This whole journey started with his nightmare and now he looked almost the same as the guy from it.  
He was taller, with his 183 centimeters he will be one of the tallest if not the tallest guys in Kuoh Academy. His whole body looked just awesome with all that muscles, and he found a pleasant surprise in his pants. He grew down there!  
His hairs were now ruby red, just like his scales, and for some reason, it made Lord Zeoticus almost crying from joy. He was wearing a red leather jacket with golden ornaments over red longsleeved shirt, black pants, and black boots. But unlike the guy from the nightmare, he didn't have a fang necklace, the shirt was a different color, and there weren't spikes on his jacket nor white dragon on his pants. Ddraig theorized that either the appearance of that guy was influenced by his subconscious or his new look was based on the vision. It didn't matter though, it's not like anyone else had seen his dream.  
What mattered was his face. It lost the pudgy baby-fat most preteens had before puberty took care of it giving it more mature and serious look. His new parents' western appearance influence it and he resembled a half-foreigner more than a full-blood Japanese, but he still looked like himself, at least he thought he was. But he couldn't deny that with red hair and blue eyes he apparently inherited from Tiamat, he looked more like his older half-brother than old-Issei... It could cause problems, but he hoped that there was enough resemblance to explain it by puberty.  
Not the eyes though. He'll have to do something about them.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Sirzechs and Grayfia approaching him. He took a manila folder from Lucifer, said his goodbyes and teleported to the human world ending his (too long) stay in Hell.

* * *

Issei froze with a hand on the door handle. He forgot one little thing. To come up with what he will tell his parents.

With ORC it's easy: he'll tell the truth that he changed into a dragon and this in his new human form based on his old look. With his classmates, it's little more complicated but he can try to go with [puberty was nice to me] and bluffing that his grandfather was European and it started to show up. But his parents weren't stupid and they knew he didn't have any foreign ancestors, so how to explain his new appearance? Or that it's quite probable that one day pale-blue haired European looking woman will show up claiming to be his mother because he also forgot to talk to her about it?

Add the fact that he was a terrible liar and the chances of convincing them that everything is normal were close to zero. Maybe he should wait for Buchou so she could hypnotize them?

No. It was his mess and his parents deserved the truth. He could only hope that they will understand.

He walked inside bracing himself for the possibility that they will reject him and announced his presence.

"Mom, dad! I'm back!"

"Issei? Is that you?" his mother responded from the kitchen.

"Yes, it's me."

"Come in, come in, I'm in the kitchen. But why didn't you called to tell us you were coming back? Your father would take a day off. I'll call him, maybe he can leave and come home."

Ah, that. Well, his phone didn't survive his trip to Hell, but he wasn't sure if Hell had the reception in the first place, and of course, he forgot. Both that his father was working and to ask someone how to contact his parents. He already accepted that he had his moments of complete idiocy and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

When he walked into the kitchen his mother's [mother senses] activated and with only one glimpse she saw everything that was different and wrong.

"You're taller. And you lost some weight, but hello there muscles~." with that, her happy tone ended replace by accusing one "Why did you die your hairs? What's with the jacket? Since when you have blue eyes? Actually, what happened to your whole face? Don't you dare say that you had plastic surgery when you were gone!"

He couldn't do anything else but smile and hug his mother ignoring her questions.

"Hi mom, I missed you."

"I missed you too, sweety, but I want answers!"

"I'll explain it all when dad is here, ok?"

"*sigh* fine. Are you hungry? I could ma-"

"Yes, please do." he cut her off. What? He was a fast-growing dragon, he was always hungry and the thought of food was enough to cause his stomach to growl. He didn't need anything similar to the Dragon Language to understand the message, it said [fooooood].

~o0o~

His father arrived 30min later, but the conversation was delayed due to Issei eating, he only waved when he came in.

When he finished he sat in front of his parents, who were clearly intrigued and concerned about his changes.

'Here's go the bomb.'

"So, the thing is... I am a dragon now."

He quickly realized it wasn't the best phrasing. Rather than thinking of mythical beast, his parents started lamenting about him joining a gang, how this new subculture ruined their boy etc. Was there a gang called [Dragons] in Japan? He didn't know about something like that, but it was possible. He knew only about Yakuza though.

He tried to say something, but his words were lost in their cries, so he used a more drastic method. He turned into his humanoid-dragon form. It looked horrible and he would prefer not showing it to his parents, but there wasn't enough room to turn into a full form and chibi didn't seem shocking enough (after so much time spent around creatures aware of the supernatural world he lost the concept of what was shocking for humans).

The ruby red aura of his transformation got their attention, however, their reactions weren't like he predicted. His father screamed in terror like a little girl, but his mother? She came close to him with a sad look on her face and place a hand on the side of his snout.

"My baby boy, what happened to you?"

"It's a long story."

"I'll always have time for you."

The conversation was delayed yet again. This time because he felt a sudden need to hug his mother and cry on her shoulder.

* * *

Issei was walking towards Kuoh Academy almost dancing from joy. His parents took the news better than he dared to hope. Not the part where he died though. And definitely not the part where he technically died for the second time when his heart stopped when it was changing into a heart of a dragon. But the rest went smoothly.

They were surprised when he told them that devils existed. Amazed when they learned they Rias was one. But they were stunned when he said that Asia is one as well. They couldn't reconcile the image of a nun with a devil. He didn't blame them, he had the same problem sometimes, but it didn't stop him from laughing at their expressions.

His parents weren't too pleased with his position in Rias' peerage and compared it to slavery. He tried to explain that she saved his life. Didn't work, they said she shouldn't make his life the price for his life. He tried to explain that he wasn't treated as a slave and that her family helped him a lot last month. Didn't work, they said it was an investment in their possession. He tried to explain that it was only temporary and he will be promoted to her vassal eventually and it should be sooner than later according to his trainers. That kind of worked as they didn't have a counterargument. But he had a feeling that this subject will return.

He was relieved when they accepted his apology for lying or not saying anything earlier in fear that they would reject him. The moment those words left his mouth his mother rushed to him and for a moment he was sure that she would slap him. Instead, she hugged him and said [You'll always be my baby boy, it doesn't matter if you are human or not]. His father repeated it using slightly manlier words and he had to work really hard to not burst into tears again.

The hardest and weirdest part was him trying to explain how exactly he turned into a dragon.

*flashback*

So far everything went great, but the hardest was yet to be said. He had to say about him being reborn as a dragon and Tiamat's involvement.

"There's one more thing you have to know. From the biological standpoint, I am no longer your son."

As a result, he earned the first slap from his mother in his entire life and it was so hard that he actually felt it.

"Don't you... Don't you ever dare to say..." his mother mumbled.

It was his turn to be shocked and confused, but then it hit him. The smell. As a dragon, he could literally smell fear, and it was coming from a trembling woman standing in front of him. A mother afraid of losing her only child. He felt like slapping himself again but that could wait and he quickly hugged her.

"I'm not going anywhere, I am still your son no matter what biology says." he was proud of himself when he felt his mother returning the hug and relaxing after those words.

"However, I brought this up for a reason. Ddraig, if you could."

 **"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou. My name is Y Ddraig Goch, it's a pleasure to meet you."** green light shone from his left arm when Ddraig spoke.

"Is that... is that him?" his father asked.

"Yes, this is spirit sealed inside my left arm and technically my new biological father. Oh Ophis, that sounds weird..."

"Not as weird as having the soul of your father sealed in your body." his father tried to joke.

"True that..." Issei nodded

"And your mother?" his mother asked. (AN. I'm getting annoyed, too many fathers and mothers... Why don't they have names?)

"Is standing right in front of me." Issei offered a smile to his mother. "But there is a certain dragoness with an actual body that is my new biological mother... still weird... and she would love to be part of my life... if you don't have anything against it..." he was trailing off not sure how to say it.

"Don't be silly. Of course, we don't, right honey?" his mother said and his father agreed. "I'd love to meet her and I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Will she visit us soon?"

"I don't know, she said that she has a lot of missed work in the Familiar Forest and has to stay, but I'll invite her to dinner at the first opportunity I'll have."

*flashback end*

* * *

He reached Kuoh Academy 15 minutes after the classes ended. Perfect, it meant that the students were in their respective clubrooms or on their way home. He didn't want to meet someone who might recognize him, he just wasn't ready for the bullshit that would follow. He wouldn't care as much if it weren't Friday, which meant two extra days of preparations for it if he will be careful, and he was sure Kaichou will forgive him for being a little late since he was kind of two months late already.

This plan had an obvious flaw. There was no way he could avoid being seen by members of the Student Council since he was supposed to walk into their room and he will have to interact with them. But they were always so professional and strict that he wasn't too worried about possible gossip.

He reached the door to Student Council Room without meeting anyone thanks to his enhanced hearing. He was able to hide in an empty classroom when he heard someone approaching him when they were far away and he could hear which room was empty.

* * *

Souna Shitori, President of Kuoh Academy's Student Council, also known as Sona Sitri, the next heiress of the Sitri Clan, was sitting alone in SC room. Every member of her peerage except her [Queen] was out doing contracts, which on one hand made her proud of them, but on the other, she felt little lonely because she got used to working with them in the room. Her [Queen] went out to deliver badly filled forms back to clubs' presidents.

Sona was torn between going for something to eat or starting checking clubs' budget for next semester. She still had a lot of time to do that, but she knew that after she publishes final version the clubs' representatives will show up with questions and complaints and she'd prefer to have time to make changes.

Budget won because she had a feeling that Tsubaki will bring dinner when she'll be back and if not they both can take a break and go together.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

The knocking on the door put her on high alert and she conjured two serpents made from water to the door sides before inviting newcomer inside. It may seem like an overkill, but there was a reason for such reaction.

Yes, she was Kaichou and yes, she was in school full of students who could come anytime to her office, but that was only in theory. In practice, while she treated her position very seriously, she has been also using that room as a base of her devil business in Kuoh, so to avoid problems with humans being present in the room when someone from her peerage teleports in she was using a suggestion spell to keep them away after school hours.

If Sona was the one to make it, she would consider a possibility of student bypassing it with his will to come here, but it was her sister who made it. The chances of mere human teenager ignoring effects of the spell made by a Maou were nonexistent.

That meant that whoever was behind that door was part of supernatural world and list of such people in Kuoh Academy wasn't long. She and her peerage, but they would teleport in and Tsubaki wouldn't knock. Rias and her peerage, but they were in Old School Building, she talked with Crimson Ruin Princess just a few minutes ago. And Kiyome Abe, she didn't know where the Beast Tamer was, but she wasn't in Kuoh until Tuesday. And since she preferred being safe than sorry, serpents were made. If it's one of those people she would apologize and dismiss them (or even dismiss them before they saw her creation).

It wasn't.

The first thing she noticed was an aura, which hit her senses the moment the door was ajar. It was a mixture of devil and dragon aura, similar to her [Pawn], but with stronger dragon feeling to it. When she tried to focus on it, she couldn't say anything more because this aura was peculiar. It was always the same but also constantly changing and escaping her grasp.

The door opened revealing teenager she didn't recognize and she took quite amount of pride in the fact that she remembered every student in her school. It meant she was right, it was not a student (if the aura alone wasn't enough proof of that).

Red hairs, but not Gremory Crimson. Red jacket on top of a red shirt...

'It can't be... That can't be him.'

But she couldn't deny facts. Devil and dragon, obsessed with red color, clearly affiliated with the Academy if he was able to walk here without setting off the alarms. His face also held resemblance...

"Hello, Kaichou, I was told to deliver those documents to you." he said.

His voice was different, more mature and serious but it was obviously him. What in the world happened to him?

"Welcome, Hyoudou-san, I didn't expect you, I thought you will be back on Monday." she greeted him silently dismissing her serpents.

"Ah, yes, but I was nearby and I thought that I would bring you documents today and take my new uniform when I'm here."

"I see, please take a seat."

"Is there something you need from me, Kaichou?" Issei asked sitting on the chair.

"I'd like you to explain where were you past two months."

"I... I was told you were informed..."

'Informed?! Maybe if you count a message [Issei-kun will be absent for an unspecified period of time] my sister passed me from Lucifer or Rias crying about [evil dragon who kidnapped her adorable [Pawn]] as being informed...'

She didn't miss slight panic in his voice or how his eyes moved quickly around the room looking for something.

"Yes, but I want to hear from you what made you think that neglecting your education for two months is a good idea."

"Oh, that... You play chess, Kaichou?" he asked pointing at the chessboard on her desk.

'Don't you think you will get out that easily.'

"Yes, I am quite good at chess. You?"

"I don't know, I'd played only against one opponent so far. Care for a match?"

"We can play when you'll be answering my question if you're up to it." Sona held back a smirk seeing his defeated face and set up the board.

"There's not much to be said. I spent last two months in a training camp organized by the Tannin Foundation." Issei said moving his leftmost pawn. "It was a last-minute offer and I didn't really think too much about the school at the time, it felt like something good for me, almost essential for my wellbeing so... yeah. And it's not like I dropped out from school, it just took longer than I thought it would, but I am here to catch up."

Sona was impressed by his skill in chess, but not so much by his answer.

"What do you mean by [almost essential for your wellbeing]?"

"I rather not talk about it, it's personal... But I was in a bad spot when the offer came in, I needed a change and it felt like a good idea to go there."

"I won't force you to say more, but you can always come to talk with me if you want. Checkmate."

It was a close game. Too close for her liking as he lost because of one mistake. She has to be careful in the future... She could easily imagine what her parents would do if they learned that Red Dragon Emperor has won the right to marry her.

Issei, however, seemed like he forgot that she was there, his eyes were locked on the board.

"Ah... I see. I shouldn't take your knight with my bishop but rather move my rook to force your queen back to defend your king. Good game, Kaichou, congratulation."

"I didn't know that you are so good at chess, or even that you know how to play... Who taught you?"

"My... um, my roommate, Drake."

"You- You learned how to play less than two months ago? You almost beat me!"

"Did I? Huh... Well, Drake was often using similar strategy so I knew how to counter it, but you played differently and I didn't know how to react and I lost because of it.."

"I see. Anyway, my offer stands, you can talk to me anytime you want. The teachers were informed about your return, but remember to ask them about your make-up work after classes. Oh, and your new uniform is laying next to the door, could you grab it on your way out?"

"Of course, Kaichou." Issei got the message that he should go. Good, no more questions. "And thank you for the offer, but I'm better now."

He left the room leaving Sona alone, but not even half a minute later the door burst open and her [Queen] run inside.

"Sona! Oh, you're fine... you're safe... nothing happened."

Sitri heiress looked at her disturbed, it was unlike for Tsubaki to act like that.

"Tsubaki, what happened?" she walked to her friend concerned.

"This... this monstrous aura... you didn't feel it?"

Sona shooked her head slightly, it was the opposite in fact as the aura she felt was rather weak. But then again, her [Queen] was from Shinra Clan that purifies evil spirits so she trusted her experience in sensing auras more than herself.

"At first it felt suppressed... it was like embers ready to burst into flames at any moment... but when that man got closer and I tried to get a closer look, I saw **_IT_**... The crimson inferno raging just beneath the surface, screaming to be let loose, to destroy and dominate... to bring chaos to the word... I thought something happened..." Tsubaki was terrified and had troubles to speak.

Sona put a hand on her friend shoulder to calm her down.

"Relax, Tsubaki, nothing happened. You must have focused too hard and you saw the spirit of Welsh Dragon."

"Wait, what?! That was Hyoudou?!"

"Yes, it was. Quite a change, isn't it? I wonder what happened to him. Come, sit down, I'll make you some tea."

"I should be the-"

"No, it's fine, I'll make it, you need to calm down."

After few minutes Tsubaki calmed down and they were sitting on the couch enjoying fresh tea.

"So what did Hyoudou tell you?" the [Queen] asked.

"Not much really, only that he trained with the Former Dragon King Tannin. However," Sona laughed "he seemed to be unaware that Student Council members are devils and made it sound so vague that if I didn't know any better I'd say that his parents sent him to some Teen Boot Camp to fight with his perversion."

"And you didn't say anything?" Tsubaki sounded amused.

"No, I was too amused by his attempts to avoid the supernatural topic. Besides, it would be better to have an official meeting with his [King] present."

"Should I schedule it?"

"Yes, please, we delayed it because he was in Hell but I think it's time. And I'd love to learn what happened to him, he looks and acts so different. But first, we have to finish club budgets and double-check invitations for the Open Day so maybe end of the week?"

"It shall be done, My King." Tsubaki said with a bow.

"Don't act like that, please, not when we're alone. You're my friend." Sona pouted.

* * *

 **AN**

A lot of stuff today.

1\. For those of you, who read Issei's character sheet before the edit: I'm an idiot (thanks for pointing that out, TheLaughingStalker and leaderdbz). I wrote "new appearance" without any specifics... The reason was I wrote it after I finished the summary (or so I thought) and I forgot to repeat the info about his new face, but, to be fair, it wasn't well explained in it either. I made some changes to make it clear how he looks.

2\. Issei description is loosely based on Issei from The God of Destruction and Regrowth by Skrewksy. On that note, if I am intentionally using work from other stories in another form than friendly mention/easter egg (like I did with Crippled), I'll point that out. However, if you see something that you think I "borrowed" from someone and I didn't point it out, let me know. The chances are I forgot that I read it somewhere. I'll check it out and if I read that story I'll put the note in AN.

3\. The summary of the last day feels more like a full description to me and I was tempted to write it as a separate scene, but I was afraid I would make it long enough to be worth a chapter on its own and it's really time to go back to Kuoh.

4\. I experimented with Single Line Breaks in the summary. The idea was to keep each part of his stay in Hell as one paragraph but not make it a long-ass string of semi-random sentences. What do you think? Readable? 'Cuz I'm not sure... Maybe I should go back to normal brakes and add something to separate the parts.

5\. I don't know why I didn't use Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou to reduce the number of fathers and mothers per line. But I found it funny and decided to keep.

6\. "The talk with parents" or rather lack of it. I told you I had troubles writing it and the troubles won. There are only so many times I'm willing to write Issei talking about his whole life (and probably even fewer times you're willing to read about it) but without it, the conversation felt forced and artificial. Like random parts of the real one glued together. I tried to replace part of the dialog with "He said [insert stuff] and his parents reacted like [insert reaction]" but it didn't help, so I opted for just pointing parts of it. This way it happened but you don't have to read it. To make it clear, his parents know about everything now.

7\. The chapter was supposed to end after Issei goes back to class, but... yeah I (again) made things about Hell too long. But, also, I changed my mind slightly, so I have to make some changes to his reunion with ORC, I have an event planned before the lessons start (not written yet) and I'll have to rewrite the scene in class...


	13. Your Pawn has returned

Rias Gremory, President of Kuoh Academy's Occult Research Club was sitting in ORC room surrounded by her friends. None of her peerage members got a contract request, which on one hand made her little disappointed, but on the other, she felt little happy because she got loved spending time with people whom she considered as a family.

Rias was torn between calling it a day and going home and staying here in hopes that something changes. She could start making the report of her club activities that Sona requested, but still had a lot of time to do that and it was Friday. It won't do any harm if she waits for a little, especially since she didn't have much to write in it.

Staying won because her [Queen] asked if she would like to play some chess and other members seemed like they were enjoying their stay here.

"...onste..." hearing whisper of her [Rook] Rias moved her attention from the chessboard to her. It was unusual for Koneko to speak without being asked and she had spoken even quieter than normal.

"What was it Koneko?"

"...Monster... He's coming... Everything is screaming trying to warn me..." Koneko was a nekoshou, meaning her read on the world around them was very powerful, even is she was actively restraining her growth and power, nature still managed to sometimes get it's message to her, usually as whispers. That is why, when Koneko said that nature was screaming, she knew she had to tread carefully. She didn't know why it was screaming, she didn't feel anything dangerous herself., but if nature affected her little [Rook] that badly it was serious.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Before she got a chance to ask her if she could tell anything more someone knocked on the door.

"Enter."

~oOo~

Issei walked into the room not sure what to expect. He considered other Rias' peerage members as friends, but was the feeling mutual? He met them like three months ago and spent over half of that time in Hell. While he was here everyone was friendly, but it was long ago and he didn't really know what happened in Kuoh Academy in that time, but again... Maybe it was for the better? Maybe it would offer them a fresh start and he could build better relations with them? Or maybe he just worries too much and everything will be fine and they will welcome him warmly.

"Welcome to the Occult Research Club, I am its president, Rias Gremory. How can I help you?"

Or not.

He looked around trying to understand if they were joking or they didn't recognize him.

The room was exactly the same as he remembered, but people changed. Or rather his perception of them did. Thanks to his new dragon senses and the training he did with Ddraig in his mind he was able to see much more than before.

To the left was Kiba. He was staying next to the wall seemingly alienated from the rest and not interested what was happening in the room perfectly relaxed and lost in his thoughts. But it was just a masquerade. The position he was standing was the best from a strategic standpoint; it offered him the quickest and voided of obstacles way to almost any other place in a room and all of the important ones. His posture, while trying to imitate relaxed one, was tense. His body was ready for action, his leg prepared to push him off the wall and his hand was clenched like he was holding a sword handle. It was ready for his Sacred Gear to create on. Speaking of his Sacred Gear, it was probably responsible for metallic feeling he gave, after all, he was kind of portable forge.

Two younger girls, Asia and Koneko, were sitting on the couch to the right. Both of them were scared and confused but in different proportions. Asia was mostly frightened but there was confusion clearly painted on her face as he was looking at him with a slightly tilted head. Her aura carried a scent of Dragon Apple and that meant that she was natural born Dragon Tamer thanks to a high affinity with them. It explained few things about Issei feelings when they met and he had to stop himself from hugging her as quickly as possible. That wouldn't end well considering how defensive everyone seemed. Koneko was also scared but mostly confused. Her fear did not show in her expression but her usual emotionless mask lost to the small frown when she was glaring at him. And she sniffed air few times it would seem. Issei had to hold back the enormous smile; he always thought that Koneko had something from the cat in her, but with her sniffing and general feline aura he could sense he couldn't stop thinking how she would look with cat ears. Definitely cute.

Thet left two older girls, both of them further back in the room. Rias was sitting behind her desk and he couldn't say much about her. Her thoughts and feelings were hidden behind an obviously fake smile which made him wish that they truly didn't recognize him. Aura of a devil similar to the one of Lady Venelana but much weaker. That thought also supplied the image of her mother to comparison and he had to say that if she cut and die her hair she would look exactly the same as her. Or maybe a better way of phrasing it would be that her mother looked as young and beautiful as her teen daughter. How old was she again? Probably better to not voice that question. Akeno was standing next to her [King], slightly behind and to her left. She also hid her thought behind a fake smile, but her feelings were visible in her aura. She was ready to strike and it showed in increased electric feeling she gave, probably due to her preparing her element for action. Her scent carried the smell of ozone just like the smell of the air after the storm and something else, something that he felt like he should recognize, that he was familiar with it but he couldn't place a finger on it.

'Huh, I really must look different. But Kaichou was able to recognize me, weird... Let's have some fun'

"I came to Kuoh recently" returned and a few hours ago "and I heard a lot about your club" like a year ago "so I decided to visit." I missed you and I probably should report to my [King].

"Ufufu, I didn't know we are known outside Kuoh Academy. Tell me, are you a new transfer student? If so do you believe in supernatural and want to join our club, mister...?"

"I don't know if [believe] is a good word to use." Issei said moving closer to the desk walking close to the right wall. "But I am vastly interested in the topic." he stopped and turned to the wall. "Interesting decoration design. Clearly devilish in origin but with a strong Japanese influence. Did you make them yourself?"

"... How long?" Koneko said moving her attention away from a cookie for a moment. She clearly realized who he was and relaxed.

"Not sure. I'm running out of ideas but they are not cooperating." Issei shrugged.

"Enough games!" Rias shouted summoning ball of Power of Destruction over her hand. Akeno followed suit and have small thunderbolt dancing around her arm and Kiba summoned his sword and was eying him carefully now. "Who are you and what are you doing in my territory?"

Issei turned around slowly trying not to give them any reason to attack. He was confident that he would survive if they did, but the fight could damage the clubroom and it would be hard to explain anything if they were trying to kill him.

"You wound me, Buchou." he said with fake hurt expression placing his hand over his heart. "Maybe I should go back to dragons."

"Buchou? Dragons? ISE?" Rias finally realized who was in the room.

"Your [Pawn] has returned," Issei responded with a serious expression and followed with a bow.

"Ise, I-" whatever the princess tried to say was interrupted by dragon hugging her.

"I missed you, Buchou," he turned to the [Queen] and also hugged her  
"Akeno-san," before going to the younger girls  
"Asia" he had troubles letting her go but he wasn't done, he turned to the little [Rook] with arms spread  
"may I?" Koneko nodded so he gave her a quick hug  
"Koneko-chan." after greeting every girl in the room he turned to the other male and offered a simple nod  
"Kiba." which the [Knight] returned with a smile.

"Now, I know you have a lot of questions-"

"Of course we do! What happened to you? Why do you look so different? Why didn't you call me?" Rias ended with a pout.

"But I would appreciate if you could wait until I finish my explanation." he continued with a smile causing his [King] to blush slightly in embarrassment.

"First thing first, souvenirs." Issei took some fruits from his bag and started giving them to others  
"Those are Dragon Fruits or Dragon Apples cultivated by Old Man Tannin near the Dragon Mountains. I can't say much about their taste because, apparently, they taste different for non-dragons, but I hope you'll like it." he glimpsed at Koneko who already finished her fruit before he even finished giving them to everyone and was looking at its core like a kicked puppy... kicked kitten? It would seem that he shouldn't have worried.  
"Here, Koneko-chan. But it's the last one, I have limited supply." he smiled and fought the urge to pat little [Rook's] head. He sat down on the empty couch and resumed his speech.

"Next, I am a little disappointed, you know? Kaichou recognized me but you didn't."

"Blame Koneko for that. She said that a monster is coming and we were all little nervous and defensive. But it's good to see that she was wrong." Rias explained with a smile. She was worried about Koneko but it would be better to wait with a conversation about it since not everyone knew her story.

Issei rose an eyebrow and looked at his kouhai.

'Did she sense my aura?' he decided to test it and focused on his dragon energy increasing his aura but she didn't react.

"Well, she wasn't wrong per se, I am a monster but you don't have to worry. Sorry that I scared you, Koneko-chan." he offered a smile but she only nodded with an emotionless face.

'Why is she always like that? I'll have to bring a smile to that face one day.'

"What's next, let's see... " Issei took out his notes, "Grayfia-sama said that the renovation of the club room will take place on Monday and she asked to make sure it will be empty-"

"Renovation? But nothing is broken, why do we need renovation?" Rias asked surprised.

"You'll see in a minute. My return to school has been handled. Oh, Buchou, Asia, I don't know how did you find living with my parents, but I'm afraid you'll have to move out."

"Why?! Something happened?" Rias shouted in panic.

"Issei-san..." Asia, on the other hand, sounded heartbroken.

"I thought you wanted to live with me..." Issei tilted his head in confusion.

"Yes, and you're throwing us out! Why?" Rias shock also morphed into sadness.

"I'm not. I am moving out, so I thought you'd like to move to my new house."

"And couldn't you phrased it like that?" Rias said with an angry frown.

"Issei-san" Asia complained pouting.

"Sorry... I was told few times about my bad phrasing already, I'll work on that. However, I um... I told my parents about everything and they um... They are not fans of how peerage system in the Underworld works and compared it to slavery-"

"But... But I don't think about you as a slave. Do... Do you think that?" Rias was almost crying.

"No, of course not, Buchou, you saved my life and I am happy to be in your peerage. I told them that and asked them to give you a chance to show that you don't treat your peerage as slaves, but they may need some time to see it. Also. they may have some questions for you or rather complaints. I apologize for whatever they may say..."

"I see. Don't apologize, I understand their point of view. I just hope they'll understand... But why did you say them that? Earlier you wanted to keep them away from the supernatural world."

"Few reasons, but mostly that." Issei pointed to his face.

"Oh, right. Why do... I'll let you explain on your own." Rias bitted her lips slightly embarrassed that she again jumped to questions.

"That leaves us with a message from Lucifer-sama to you, Buchou. He said, quote [tell Ria-tan that I need a full report on fallen's activity in her territory, especially the one connected to your death. Every detail, dates, maps and Asia Argento's testimony. It's important but she doesn't have to hurry, I prefer quality. Oh, and tell her to make it in official style." end quote."

Rias had mixed reaction. She was happy that Issei called her by her pet-name but irritated that it was quote from her brother and confused why he needed the report. She had sent him it already and they agreed it would be better to not say anything to the public about how her new pieces joined her peerage.

"Did Onii-sama said why he needs it?"

"Lucifer-sama didn't say and I didn't ask."

Issei looked at his notes again to make sure he didn't miss anything and spoke again.

"Now then, explanations. I was in Hell training with Old Man Tannin and it took longer than expected. It turns out that giving your devil wings to a dragon living inside your left arm has interesting consequences, like fusing dragon fire with demonic energy which resulted in... Eh, it'll be better if I show you." he stood up and effortlessly picked up the couch and carried it to the side.  
"Koneko-chan, if you could."

The [Rook] also picked up the other couch and carried it to the other side. Kiba decided to help and he took the table.

Issei walked into the middle of the now empty space with everyone watching him carefully confused by his behavior.

"Lo and behold." he said with a smile and changed into his full dragon form. It was massive Western Dragon with ruby red scales and he was barely fitting in the space prepared.

Everyone was watching in awe but he noticed that Koneko shiver slightly when his full aura was released. Since they looked like they needed a moment, he asked his companion about it.

 **'Any ideas, Ddraig?'**

 **'About what?'**

 **'Why she reacted like that.'**

 **'Why she's scared? She's a cat, the cat may be a predator but for dragons everything is prey.'**

 **'What on earth do you mean by that?'**

 **'Later.'**

"You learned how to change into a dragon?" Rias asked excitedly.

 **"Not exactly, I had turned into a dragon, this is my base form and I had to learn how to transform into a human. That's why I look different."**

"Oh my, oh my. What a dominating aura... I wonder..." Akeno looked like she was lost in her fantasies sucking her finger seductively.

"Huh? But Issei-san's aura is such calming and peaceful." Asia said stroking scales on his neck.

 **'Well, she is a Dragon Tamer, she wouldn't be a good one if she was scared of dragons aura.'** Issei thought as he leaned closer to her.

Kiba didn't react too expressively; he only watched him with a sharp glint in his eyes. But Koneko? She looked like her spirit left her body leaving an empty shell. Her face was voided of emotions even more than usual, it even reached her eyes. He wanted to ask about it, but Ddraig said he'll explain later, so maybe it would be better to wait.

 **"Obviously, I couldn't go back to school in this form, I mean even now I still look different in my human form and people may ask questions, but they hopefully will buy that it's just puberty and that I have European ancestor, but came here as a dragon? There's no way to hide it."**

"I don't think it will be so easy, it's hard to recognize you and you were gone for two months not years. We should think about another solution, maybe some sort of illusion to-" Rias said.

 **"No. It's not going to work. I can't use it myself and if someone else would try my aura would just burn it, unless that person would be close enough to add energy to the spell, but I don't think it would be wise to risk my new appearance suddenly showing up. Before you ask, same goes for any hair dye."**

"So what do you suggest? You will just show up like nothing had happened and won't say anything?"

 **"Pretty much, yeah. I was thinking about colored contact lenses but there's not much I can do about the rest."**

Issei finally noticed that his full dragon form was too big for a club room and others had little space to move. He could go back to his human form, but he actually felt more natural as a dragon so he decided to just shrink. His chibi form as he called it looked exactly the same as his full form, but was much, much smaller; in it, he was about a size of a big cat.

"Oh my Maou! So cute!"

In hindsight? Probably not the best idea. The moment his transformation had finished Rias was next to him, she grabbed him and pick him up to her face like he was a little cute puppy. Then she proceeded to take him to the couch and placed him on her lap petting him...

'She knows it's me, right? And that I am an inteli... I am a sentient being and not some half-brained animal to be treated like... Nevermind I'm good.' Issei stopped his internal rant when she started giving him belly rubs.

 **'You are a dragon, not a pet, Partner... Start acting like one!'**

'If those belly rubs require me to be classified as a pet then I'll gladly accept it. Besides, no one sees us, only my friends, it's good.'

 **'Don't come to me complaining when they start teaching you to fetch.'**

'Nah, they wouldn't do that. They won't do that... No, no no. Belly rubs are fine but I am a guy and a dragon, not a pet, there's a limit!'

 **'Are you sure they know it?'** Ddraig sounded amused.

The answer Issei would prefer was [yes], however seeing that Asia and Akeno had joined Rias in petting him, he wasn't so sure. And it was the [Queen] who proposed to teach him how to fetch about 20 minutes later, but she was joking. He was certain she was. Rather sure. He hoped she was.

Still, those belly rubs were worth it.

It lasted for almost an hour before Rias decided it's time to end club meeting. They didn't get a single contract request and sitting here was pointless. She placed Issei on the couch and walked to her desk. The dragon, however, didn't stay there and promptly marched to Asia and curled up on her lap.

'If they are going to treat me like a pet I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.'

"I think we can call it a day. If you get a request... Ise, did my brother know you are coming to Kuoh today?"

'Oh, so Buchou remembers that I can speak at least...'

"Yes, Lucifer-sama gave me documents for Kaichou and Grayfia-sama brought me to the human world."

"Then he most likely made sure that we would be here by logging us out of the Contract System for today. *sigh* He should've just told me that you were coming, we would have prepared the welcome party."

"It's fine, I'm happy to be back, no need for celebrations." Issei ended with a yawn. Asia presence was definitely too calming for him in his chibi form, he wasn't tired coming here but now he wasn't opposed to the idea of a nap. He really was a pet it would seem.

"And we are also happy that you are with us." Rias smiled. After a short pause she continued. "Ise, do you have plans for today?"

Silence.

"Ise?"

"Buchou, I think he's sleeping." Asia said with a soft smile slowly stocking his head.

"Fast." Rias and Akeno laughed at the same time.

"Well then, Asia, it would seem you were promoted to a Dragon Caretaker for now. Could you ask him to wait for me if he wakes up before I return?"

"Of course, Buchou."

"Yuuto, Akeno, you can go home, we'll meet on Monday and I'll inform you where the meeting will take place. Koneko, please come with me." Rias ended today's ORC meeting and left the room with her [Rook]. Kiba and Akeno voiced their goodbyes and also left, but not before the [Queen] made sure that Asia doesn't need anything and she patted little dragon on her lap on her way out.

* * *

 **AN.**

Edit: "Why did Sona recognize him but ORC didn't?"

Sona was informed that he is coming back. She expected him on Monday, but it combined with how he resembles old-Issei was enough to kickstart her brain and make a connection.

Basically, think about it like that: you can see the resemblances if you know what are you looking for. Like a chuby guy you didn't see for some time and he comes back as a bodybuilder. You wouldn't say it's him, but when someone points that out you'll start to realize that he looks familiar.

ORC didn't know that he was coming back and Koneko said that monster is coming. They didn't try to look for their friend in said monster.

~oOo~

Little short, but I have an announcement and I didn't want to post it alone.

From your perspective, the story will be on a break. The reason is that I reached canon events and I don't really remember much of it... I don't want to skip something important or base it on my fuzzy memories combined with other fan-made stories, so it would be better to reread it and it will probably end with me reading the whole thing. And my exams are coming, yey... But still, I am going to make some real plans, timeline and I have to make sure that my changes and added events won't cause problems. Sorry.

~oOo~

Part of my talk [Helix King of reality] that I feel is important to mention.

"You were able to write a good issei is a dragon fan fiction and not make him to overpowered and actually make the story flow to this"

This is actually one of the rules I set for myself. Do not make him OP, at least not too soon and without a reason. Now, here's a problem (and a warning). At the beginning of the next arc he will be op. He has to. We are talking about honest to Great Red (kind of) full-blooded dragon, son of the Emperor and Strongest King, who has the Boosted Gear and trained like his life depended on it under two of the strongest dragons for an over a month (wonder why :p) compared to the bunch of lazy teenagers... Though, I'll try to keep it within reason and make sure that he will get some bad moments too.

The second rule is to explain stuff. Why he decided to change, why he turned into a dragon, how he turned into one, what effects it has, why he has new abilities and why he is stronger. I probably overdid it a little and he stayed in hell for too long, but I didn't want to write something like "his wings turned him into a dragon and he spent next two months training with Tannin and he came back stronger" without further explanation.


	14. I am a dragon!

"But why are you abandoning your parents, Issei-san?"

Little dragon looked up at the nun with sleepy and confused eyes. He couldn't understand what she was talking about; he wasn't going to abandon his parents, he was just moving out to his own house, his own den, and it wasn't even that far away, 15 maybe 20 minutes of slow walk away by human standards. Besides, wasn't it every teenager dream to become independent from their parents and take control over their lives?

.

.

No... Obviously not. It may be the dream of a boy raised by parents who loved him so much that they were willing to overlook his massive flaws.

It may be the dream of an heiress to the Pillar Family who wants to be seen for who she is and not just as the heiress.

But it definitely wasn't a dream of an orphan raised and abandoned by the church who just learned what it means to have a family recently.

Hell, it was hardly his dream. He was moving out only because his parents' house was too small for five people, let alone four people and a dragon.

Issei stood up and hugged her. Well, tried to at least. Due to his size, it looked more like he was trying to push his head into her boobs. He quickly realized his mistake, jumped down from her lap, transformed into his human form and tried again with much better effect.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into crying girl's ear. "I didn't think about how you would feel about it... You can stay with my parents if you prefer-"

"But-" Asia tried to protest.

"Hush. You can stay with them as long as you want, or you can move with me. I'll support whatever you'll decide and there will always be a room for you in my house. Don't force yourself with the decision right now, there still time so why don't you leave the future problems for later, hm?"

"I... I... Thank you Issei-san."

They remained like that for few more seconds before Asia pushed herself from the hug. There was a small smile on her face, but the smile nonetheless and similar expression quickly appeared on the boy's face as well.

"I'll go to the... That is, I'll go... Um..."

"Yeah, of course." Issei smile grew slightly and he released her.

He stood up and watched her leave the room. The feeling of shame was growing in him, downcast expression quickly replacing the smile. He was in Kuoh just for a few hours and he already made Asia cry.

Feeling of Rias' breast pressing against his back caused him to go through a rollercoaster of emotions; at first, he felt blissful but it was quickly shut down by the disappointment of himself that he just made his friend cry and was willing to get over it just because of the pair of boobs... however it was washed away by the comfort the hug itself offered and the thought that at least Buchou wasn't angry at him. Probably.

"What about you, Buchou? Do you want to stay with them?"

"I'm not going to lie, I'm enjoying living with your parents. It's a pleasant experience to be treated as a normal girl, not as an heiress, but it's not the reason why I moved in."

"You speak like a dragon, Buchou." Issei chuckled and turned around to face her. "You told the truth, but you didn't answer my question. So?"

"I'd like to live with both you and your parents, Ise, and so do Asia. Why do you want to move out?"

"I don't want to, I have to." the dragon sighed. "Maybe not right now, but soon, and the longer I wait the harder it will be."

"What do you mean? I'm sure that your parents would love you to stay as long as you want so you can wait at least until you graduate from the high school or maybe even college."

"Yeah, they would, but their house not necessarily."

"Huh?"

"I am a dragon, well I've always been, but now I meet my old childish criteria: massive firebreathing creature covered in scales. I doubt I'd fit in my room as I am now and I will only grow bigger."

"And can't you just stay like this? Or in that cute little dragon form?" Rias asked with the smile.

"Buchou," Issei whined "I know I'm an idiot but please, I am not that stupid. While I can stay like this as long as I want, I should spend few hours a day to avoid any complications-"

"Complications?!" Rias shouted. "Something happened? Are you sick? Ise talk to me!"

"I'm trying." he laughed. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about. I am still growing, rather fast to be honest, and human and dragon anatomy are quite different, so it'll be better for me to stay in my full form and allow my body to develop properly. As for my chibi form... It suppresses my powers so it would slow down my growth. And I've already fallen behind compared to other dragons my age, so I'd like to catch up."

"That's good to hear." redhead [King] sighed in relief. "Oh, so the renovations are for you to have a place here to transform, right?"

"Yep. Nothing drastic, they will just remove a wall and prepare the classroom next to this to act as my nest. It's only a temporary solution, though. Won't be long until I'll outgrow it."

"Remove a wall? I could do that in seconds with my Power of Destruction... So why will it happen on Monday?"

"From what I've been told it has something to do with this room defense system and Lucifer-sama has to do it personally."

"Of course Onii-sama would do something like that behind my back... And um... Ise? You are already pretty massive sooo... How big will you grow?"

"Hard to say." Issei shrugged. "Noone actually measured Ddraig before he was sealed, but he was one of the biggest dragons alive so I think at least 20m."

"Wow..." that answer left the heiress speechless, she just stood there with mouth agape and eyes wide open.

"Don't worry, it will take few years." the dragon chuckled and looked around. "Buchou? Where is everyone?"

Rias shooked her head to clear her thoughts and smiled at the boy.

"Club meeting ended shortly after you had fallen asleep. Rude, by the way." she teased.

"Sorry 'bout that." he looked away scratching back of his head. "It's Asia. She's natural born Dragon Tamer and her aura is very calming to me. Too calming it would seem."

"I see. Anything else I should know?"

"Not really. She has an affinity with dragons, so she'll gain their attention but in a positive way; they'll feel the need to protect her or just stay close. But I may act a little clingy and overprotective."

"So nothing new." Rias giggled "Is that why you risked your life to save her."

"No! Yes? I mean, it was probably one of the reasons but-" he stopped and glimpsed at his left hand. "Ddraig says that before I fully awoken the Boosted Gear her aura wasn't enough to affect me that strongly and that I'm still too dense and stupid to see the true reason."

"And that is?"

"Dunno. He refuses to say."

"Welsh Dragon isn't very helpful, is he?"

"Quite the opposite, in fact, he is almost endless well of knowledge it just comes with an unhealthy amount of sarcasm and occasional insult. But he says it's something I have to learn myself."

"If you say so. Anyway, Ise, do you have any plans for today?"

"I guess... I was thinking about going on a little shopping trip but I think it would be better to take Asia home right now."

"Perfect! Then you can go shopping with me tomorrow."

"It will be my pleasure, Buchou."

"Wait here, I'm going to check on Asia."

* * *

On the way home, Issei asked what happened in Kuoh Academy when he was in Hell and it wasn't much. Without him, the b̶o̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ peaceful life of the Academy continued as usual.

His disappearance wasn't a big deal, which surprised him, but it made sense in hindsight. After all, when he didn't come to school his classmates simply asked Asia what happened and learned about his so-called internship.

That was good to hear. It should make his return easier. He could easily imagine what kind of rumors and crazy theories would circulate around school if it happened before she moved in...

.

.

Who was he trying to fool... Never had logic and facts stopped his classmates from coming up with crazy theories and spreading weird rumors. If they were able to convince almost entire school population that he, dubbed Perverted Beast by them, and Kiba were an item just because they saw them talking few times what would stop them from doing something like this now?

Why did he come back to this lair of idiots again? Oh, right, his [King] and friends were here...

Speaking of the ORC, he missed the Ball Tournament and didn't participate with them, but he had mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, he was really looking forward to it, maybe not the Ball Tournament itself but participating in different events as a member of the ORC and there weren't that much of those.

On the other, they were selected to take part in the Dodgeball Championship which meant they had been given an easy win. Well, they would probably win in any of the events prepared, compensating lack of skill with their enhanced devil bodies, but in Dodgeball it didn't matter because of who the members of the ORC are.

Rias and Akeno. Two Great Onee-samas of the Kuoh Academy. Can't hit that.

Asia. She quickly climbed popularity rankings and was dubbed The Angel of Kuoh Academy. Ironic, but Asia took it as a compliment it supposed to be. Anyway, it combined with the pure innocence pouring from her gave her immunity.

Koneko. School mascot. And since students don't know how strong she really is they didn't want to hurt her.

Kiba. While guys would love to use it as an opportunity to blow off some frustration they weren't willing to gain ire of his fangirls, in other words, the entire female population of Kuoh Academy.

In the end, there weren't any possible targets to throw the ball at. And because participation was obligatory it led to bizarre situations where students were passing the ball to their favorite girl (or to Kiba) and asked to receive the honor of being eliminated by her and lamenting that they can be eliminated only once.

However, if he was present on the field the situation would be slightly different. That is, everything would probably happen exactly the same way, but only after their opponents tried and most likely succeed in eliminating him in the most brutal and humiliating way possible. Still better than having massive boulders thrown at you by a dragon, but beggars can't be choosers.

And that was pretty much the only interesting thing that happened in the past two months. Other than that he just missed lessons, regular gossip and a party in celebration of Kendo Club winning eliminations to some tournament, but he doubted that he would be invited to it in the first place so not a big loss there.

* * *

Rias had expected the awkward atmosphere during dinner, but what surprised her was that Issei's parents weren't the source of it. In fact, they were acting relatively normal considering the weird behavior of the three teenagers in the house.

She herself was anxious and nervous. She simply didn't know how she was supposed to interact with them. She knew was that they were [not happy] with how peerage system works, but not what it means for her.

Should she pretend that everything is the same, or maybe pretend that she wasn't here? Maybe she should introduce herself once again this time as the heiress to the Pillar Family, but she didn't want to. Ask them or wait for them to bring the subject? What was she supposed to do?!

The last question was the same that troubled her [Bishop]. Even if Issei managed to cheer her up in the clubroom depressed thoughts returned shortly after they had arrived home. All it took to erase the smile and turn the nun into the little pile of misery was Mrs. Hyoudou's innocent question [How was school?].

It hurt Rias to see her like this. But it hurt even more that she couldn't do anything to help. Choosing the place to live was the decision her [Bishop] had to make for herself. Of course, as the [King] she could order her to move out or stay, but she didn't want to. It wouldn't answer the dilemma and the question [what if she had chosen differently] would haunt the former nun later.

And she didn't know what was the right choice either. If she ordered her to stay, Asia might see it as her attempt to separate her from Issei so she could spend more time alone with him. But if she ordered her to move with them she risked that Asia or Mr. and Mrs. Houdou would blame her for taking them away. Especially with how they reacted to learning about situation their son is in.

There was one thing that she could do that might resolve all those problems. Yes, she'll have to call her brother and ask for help later, but that shouldn't be a problem for him.

The last teen in the house was her [Pawn], whose undivided attention was focused on the food. That wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing if it was from having his mother cooking after so long, but it wasn't the case.

He was just sitting there with empty eyes, mechanically eating his dinner. It scared her how similar he looked to Koneko when she killed all her emotions.

And the worst part? Rias had no idea what had happened. They were walking home talking about what happened when he was in the Underworld when suddenly his usual energetic persona vanished leaving an empty shell. But, of course, he claimed that everything was fine. Maybe he was just more bothered by the fact that he was, in his words, forced to move out than he let on?

Rias was devastated. Not only this day went nothing like she imagined, it was only getting worse and worse.

In her dreams, brunet walked out of the magic circle in the clubroom and after short but affectionate greetings with the rest of her peerage he asked her out on a date in late celebration of breaking her marriage contract. The date was her second best day ever, losing only to the day Issei won her freedom, and it ended with him taking her home, to his room and... Better to not go into this particular memory line or she'll have to spend an hour in the bathroom to get it out of her head. Again.

But it wasn't like that. When he showed up they didn't recognize him and almost attack him! Sure, he looked different and Koneko's warning set them on edge, but those were just excuses. Sona recognized him for crying out loud and she wasn't the one who moved in into his house! She'll have to ask her friend later about it, there must be a reasonable explanation for it.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg. After they cleared the misunderstanding she learned that her love interest's parents may hate her. She hoped that it was just another misunderstanding, but what if it wasn't? She didn't want to even think about it. And then instead of taking her on a date her [Pawn] fall asleep. Granted, he had a good excuse for it and they had spent an hour playing with him like he was cute little puppy which was probably tiresome, but still, a girl can have dreams.

And now this gloomy atmosphere during dinner with which she couldn't do anything. She could talk with Issei's parents about him being her servant, but it might only worsen the situation, and she didn't know how to do it.

How should she refer to Ise's parents? Mother and father like she used to or was it not welcome anymore? But that was just a minor detail she could easily avoid by not addressing them directly.

The real issue was how to begin the conversation.

'I'd like to explain few things.' But that sounded defensive and she didn't do anything wrong. Actions of the Fallen Angels weren't her responsibility and, as brutal as it sounds, saving the life of a single human wasn't worth risking restarting the Great War. In fact, she did the best thing she could to ensure his survival without forcing him to join her peerage based on assumptions: she gave him her flier. If she approached him earlier she still couldn't do much more.  
Warn him? She didn't have proof that Raynare was going to kill him, she didn't even know if it was her plan. And if it was, the warning would mean nothing. Offer him protection? Ever since the Evil Pieces were introduced such contracts were forbidden unless he would become her contracted magician and he was no magician. Offer him to join her peerage? Yes, because [the girl pretending to be your girlfriend may try to kill you. I can protect you but only if you become my servant] is a great way to start such relationship. Offer him to join her peerage without mentioning anything about the threat? If he refused she would have to leave him to die or resurrect him against his will. And if he would agree to her resurrecting him if the Fallen killed him it would be almost the same situation like right now, with two slight differences. First, if Raynare wouldn't kill him it would be her who brought him to the Supernatural world and she'd prefer him living as a normal human rather than throwing him into this world without any means to help him. And she'd have to break her oath.  
Unlike Sona, who came to Kuoh in search of potential peerage members, she came here to escape her miserable life as Riser's playtoy for as long as she could and she promised herself that she won't take anyone with her if she had another choice. How could she offer anyone to join her peerage if she knew that she'll be trading them away if she marries Phenex? She'd trade her current members to someone who would take care of them for unused pieces, destroy them with her Power of Destruction, or if it wouldn't be enough, she'd find a way to throw them into Dimensional Gap consequences be damned. Her last pitiful spit in Riser's face. However, saving someone life was good enough reason to use her Evil Pieces even if the end result would be far from ideal. And yes, she was aware that it may seem like she intentionally left Issei to die to gain a powerful piece, but that wasn't her intention and her conscience was clear.

'I heard that you have some questions.' But that sounded dismissive, nonchalant and borderline arrogant like she didn't care. And while their opinion on the subject didn't really matter, considering how Issei was fine with being her [Pawn] and, again, how she did nothing wrong, she still wanted to have good relations with his parents.

'Ise asked me to talk with you.' Slightly better. It still gave the vibe like she didn't care about their opinion, but at least it showed that she cared about their son and didn't have any ill-intentions. Unless you count tying him to the bed and... She definitely spends too much time with Akeno. Nephilim's personality started to rub on her too much. Or maybe it was always there she just hadn't allowed herself to even think like that with her pending engagement?

"Those Evil Pieces. How exactly do they work?"

Voice of Issei's mother broke her trance. Apparently, her servants and Issei's father left the room when she was lost in her thoughts leaving her alone with Hyoudou matriarch.

"You mean how they turned him into the devil?" she asked confused.

"No. I meant the part where they turned him into your slave." Mrs. Hyoudou responded with an unreadable expression.

'Oh! right. That makes more sense...'

"He's not my slave. He is my servant, member of my precious family and I don't care what the laws say. I would never treat him like my possession and not a person."

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to change the blank look on Mrs. Hyoudou's face. And so, Rias began long explanations of the Underworld's history including the Great War and Civil War and how it lead to the creation of the Evil Pieces and the Peerage System. She explained what exactly it means for Issei to be her [Pawn]; she tried to focus on benefits but didn't skip the obligations, and she emphasized what profits Ise will gain when he will be promoted to High Class. During that whole time, Issei's mother did not speak and her face did not show any emotions.

Rias took a deep breath and waited for the verdict.

"So what you're saying is that my son is your slave according to the laws of the Underworld, which is a fancy name for Hell in which devils live, but you don't consider him to be one, and yet you expect him to serve you for until he'll be promoted to High Class, which may happen years from now or even won't happen at all. Is that correct?"

"I... I... it's..." the heiress stutter.

"I'll take this as a yes."

Rias looked at her feet in defeat. She tried, she really tried hard to convince Mrs. Hyoudou that this situation is not like she thinks, but she failed. There wasn't anything more she could say that may change her mind. The only question which remained was what now?

Even if she wanted she couldn't take her pieces back and turned Ise back to human. He'll be her [Pawn] until death. Either his or her. But it didn't mean that she was going to treat him like her possession and she didn't want to take him away from his family. Quite the opposite in fact. She wanted to become part of that family and right now it seemed to be impossible as she felt unwelcome in their lives.

Maybe she should say it? She doubted that there was anything that says [Ise is not my slave] more than [I love him]. Although there may be a part of Akeno that would disagree and claim those two to be synonyms.

But she wasn't ready to say it. If only because she didn't know if it is love. She had never been in love so how could she tell? The love manual she read didn't help either: there wasn't a chapter about [my adorable servant beat my fiance and saved me from unwanted arranged marriage] and feelings that follow it.

And what if it wasn't? After everything Ise did for her she didn't want to break his heart because she rushed things and it turned out to be infatuation or even just gratitude and happiness she'd mistaken for love. She needed more time to confirm her feelings and preferably time she'll spend with her [Pawn] and not a time when he is in another dimension.

"I guess it's time to give up the dream of having grandchildren to spoil." Mrs. Hyodou sighed.

'Wait, what!? That's your problem?'

The glare Rias received from Issei's mother clearly said that she accidentally voiced her thoughts.

"Don't give me that look, young lady. While I'm not too happy with current situation Issei seems to be and I'll respect his decisions. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, being your slave is better than him being dead."

"He's not my slave..." Riad weakly defended herself.

"I heard you the first time and I'm glad to hear you don't think about him as your slave. But it doesn't matter what you think. What kind of woman will marry another woman's slave?"

Rias didn't see the problem here as there weren't any laws that forbid peerage members to marry someone. And while they usually happen when both [King] and servant were the same sex, it wasn't a rule.

Besides, she could easily and accurately point one woman who wouldn't care about Ise being her [Pawn]. After all, that woman was somewhere upstairs.

But then again, she had to agree that such marriages weren't popular, especially among Low-Class servants and maybe that was one of the reasons behind it.

Ise's mother took her silence as agreement and continued.

"I've always known that it's unlikely for Issei to become a father with this ludicrous Harem King dream, but I could hope that he'll meet the one girl so special to him that she'll be his whole world and he'll settle down. But now it doesn't matter. I don't have devil's lifespan to wait for his promotion and my grandchildren! So unless you want to marry him then yes, it is my problem!"

Rias blushed madly and looked away unwilling to face her interlocutor. She was desperately trying to come up with something to say, but before she found her words-

"Tou-san! We'll have our grandchildren! We don't have to worry anymore!" Issei's mother shouted happily running out from the room.

Rias smiled to herself. While the conversation didn't go as she suspected and there still were some unanswered questions on both sides, at least she knew she had Mrs. Hyoudou blessing.

 **~o0o~**

Rias walked into her... That is Issei's bedroom in a happy mood.

Her bodypillow was back!

Mental note: under no circumstances should she refer to Ise like this in his parents' presence.

She didn't mean it to sound like he was an object, he was much more than that, but that could be easily misunderstood.

It was surprising how quickly she got used to, or maybe even addicted to sleeping with her [Pawn]. She's done it only once, twice if you count healing session after Dohnaseek attacked him, but it was enough to make her miss the comfort and the feeling of safety it offered. She briefly wondered how his new physique and harder muscles will affect it, but there was no point to mull over it when she could just try and see.

There was just one tiny problem with that. Asia already claimed her position on his side and was sleeping hugging his arm with a content smile.

Now, Rias wasn't stupid. She knew that Issei wanted to become the Harem King, probably everyone in Kuoh heard about it since he shouted it to everyone whether they wanted to hear it or not, and that if she wanted a relationship with him she'll have to share. But she didn't want to be a side chick, she wanted to be the first and legal wife. And currently Asia seemed to be in the lead, both because she had started trying to get Ise's attention earlier and because of her Dragon Tamer aura. Unfair.

That didn't stop Rias from smiling at the sight. They both looked happy and that was most important. And if she could get some of that happiness for herself it would be even better.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my mother cares only about how my situation affects her possible grandchildren."

Rias paled. How much did he hear? Too much? Not enough and he reached conclusion on his own?

"I'm sorry, I didn't try to eardrop, but that shout was hard to miss."

Only that. Good. She relaxed, nothing to worry about.

"You should give your mother more credit, Ise. She really cares about and wants only the best for you. Besides, there's nothing wrong with wanting grandchildren and if you didn't cause her to worry so much that it may never happen with your open perversion then maybe she wouldn't be so-" Rias stopped mid-sentence when she noticed her [Pawn] standing next to her. He was breathing heavily with closed eyes.

"Ise? Are you-"

"I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight. Goodnight, Buchou." the dragon said without opening his eyes and walked out the room before she got a chance to say anything more.

For a moment she was worried that it was her words that drove him away, but she quickly realized something and giggled softly.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to undress in front of a perverted teenager who just spent almost two months basically alone in the mountains.

That was quite unfortunate, she was really looking forward to testing her new bodypillow, but one more night alone won't kill her and it was obvious that her [Pawn] needed some time alone.

She grabbed her clothes and proceed to Asia's bedroom but was stopped by a sad whimper.

It came from her still sleeping [Bishop] who already had traveled through half of the bed in search for her companion.

'Just this once, since I'm kind of responsible for Ise leaving...' Rias thought and put her things back on the desk.

 **~o0o~**

Next morning Rias and Asia walked into the kitchen where Issei's mother was already preparing breakfast. The former was trying to hold back a laugh, but few giggles escaped, while the later was blushing madly and avoiding looking at her [King].

The reason? Asia woke up with her head in Rias breast.

The redhead was perfectly fine with it. When she was younger she used to sleep with Akeno and they both were cuddlers. As it turned out Asia was also one, and since unlike Issei who sleeps solemnly on his back, Rias preferred sleeping on her side, the girls ended up in a rather intimate embrace, which was clearly embarrassing for the former nun.

"Good morning, mother." both girls spoke in unison.

"Good morni- Asia-chan! Something happened? Did Ise do something to you?" Mrs. Hyoudou asked with a voice that promised eternal punishment if the answer was anything else than no.

"Yes." the blonde responded with a pout. "He left me alone with that succubus."

"It's not my fault that you find my breast more comfortable than your pillow." Rias laughed seeing how Asia's face became even redder.

Mrs. Hyoudou visibly relaxed and shook her head with a smile.

"*sigh* youth... Breakfast is almost ready so why don't you take the plates and make yourself comfortable."

"Of course. Ise's up?" Rias asked picking up plates.

"How should I know? He didn't come down." Mrs. Hyoudou asked confused.

"He um... He said he was going to sleep on the couch tonight..." it was Rias turn to blush slightly at the memory of last evening.

"He did? That explains the blanket actually, but he wasn't there... Wait, why did he sleep on the couch?"

"Issei-san slept on the couch? But he was with me when I fell asleep."

"Well... He left when I was undressing..."

An awkward silence fell in the room. None of them knew what to say next.

After a few moments, Mrs. Hyoudou cleared her throat. "Anyway... it's good to see that this training had a positive influence on Issei. I don't think he' ever been up so early on his own volition, but he could've stayed and helped with breakfast."

"Maybe it's for the best he didn't. I doubt Tannin-sama taught him how to cook." Rias joked.

"True, but he can't learn if he'll just wait for someone to do it all the time."

"He doesn't have to. I can cook for him." Asia stated firmly.

"Oh Asia-chan, it's truly a blessing that you showed up in my worthless son's life. But you can spoil him so much, he has to fulfill his part of house chores."

With that conversation ended and all three women moved to finish breakfast preparations.

When they finished Issei still hasn't returned and after a short debate, they decided to not wait for him since they didn't know where he is or when he'll be back.

The atmosphere during the meal was filled with smiles and small-talk; mostly it was Issei's parents asking about various supernatural topics like Underworld's culture, church true nature and what Japanese myths were actually true.

The last one caused Rias to go into her Otaku mode much to other's amusement. However, her lecture about Yuokai was interrupted by Asia's surprised squeak.

Crimson Ruin Princess was immediately on her feet, a ball of Power of Destruction gathered in her hand ready to annihilate any threat to the girl she saw as her little sister, only to see a small red dragon standing on her lap supporting himself with claws on the table edge and looking around.

"Good morning, Ise." Rias relaxed, sit back and returned to her meal like nothing happened.

"That's my son!?" older Hyoudous screamed in unison causing the little dragon to look at them with a tilted head.

"I told you I'm a dragon, this is how dragons look. At least Western ones. What's so surprising?" Issei said grabbing a toast.

"My... My son... Is a pet.." Mr. Hyoudou stammered.

"You... You can turn into this cute little creature? Why didn't you tell so?"

"I may be little, but I am not cute! Dragons are terrifying and awe-inspiring not cute!" this would be probably taken more seriously if he wasn't rubbing on nun's hand petting his head moments earlier.

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror?" Rias laughed.

In response, they were treated with a pout attempt which only reinforced their opinion.

"I'm not cute..."

"My son... Is a pet..." Mr. Hyoudou face showed utter shock and disbelief.

"I am not... Ok, in this form I guess I'm as close to a pet as an intelligent being can be, but I refuse to accept this... This slander about me being cute!" Issei shouted.

"What's wrong with being cute?" Asia asked.

"Nothing if you are a girl or a fluffy puppy. But I am a dragon! Dragons aren't cute... We are world's greatest and strongest predators, our presence alone strikes fear into our enemies' hearts! What part of it sounds cute?"

"The one where you are cutely munching toast sitting on Asia's lap." Rias counter without batting an eye. "Ise, look, I get it. You want to uphold the reputation of a terrifying dragon, but level with us.  
Even if your full form may scare those who don't know you, we know what kind of person you are. Can't you just accept that we are not afraid of you, not because we think you are harmless, but because we know you would never hurt us, and agree that you look cute?"

"Asia?" small dragon looked at [Bishop] looking for help.

"I don't agree with Buchou. I think that you look cute in your both dragon forms."

"Mom?"

"You are my baby boy, you will always be cute for me no matter how you look."

"Dad?"

"My son... Is a pet."

"Yes, dad, we heard you the first time." Issei rolled his eyes. "I can't win this, can I?"

"Nope." three women in the room responded with smiles.

"Aren't dragons supposed to be huge?" Mr. Hyoudou finally snapped out his trance.

"In my full form, I'm over 5m tall. It's all part and parcel, the whole dragon gig." Issei smirked.

Whirlwind made of orange flames surrounded the table and his ruby aura formed massive dragon head behind Asia.

 **"Phenomenal dragon powers!"**

Next moment fire and aura disappeared without a trace.

"Itty bitty living space. At least that how it supposed to work." Issei muttered the last part to himself.

"Issei-san, you are scaring mother and father."

Issei looked at his parents. They were indeed pale and were trembling slightly.

"Don't worry, I have perfect control over my flames, they won't burn anything I don't want."

"It... It doesn't make that whirlwind any less frightening, kiddo."

"Roger that, no playing with fire inside the house. Anyway, most if not all dragons can alter their size and many have some sort of shapeshifting ability, so I guess the image of a dragon in human culture was created based on the most traditional form and legends about their battles. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if those who had seen dragons in their reduced form didn't survive long enough to tell a tale after they called the dragon cute."

"Shapeshifting? You mean dragons can pretend to be humans?"

"Just like me? Yes, in a way. From what I understand human-like look was adopted by many different species, like devils, and some has looked like humans from the beginning, like angels, and such form became standardized appearance. While I don't know about any dragon currently living in the Human World it's possible. Hiding as a human in a densely populated city sounds like a good idea for a dragon not affiliated with any faction. And it happened before. There's a legend about Wawel Dragon killed by a cobbler who tricked him into eating a lamb filled with sulfur. But the cobbler was, in fact, the dragon who faked his death after church sent Dragon Hunters to kill him."

"They humans? It would seem you abandon your humanity quite easily." Mrs. Hyoudou pointed sadly.

Issei stopped eating and was watching his toast with the distant look in his eyes.

Did he really abandon his humanity that easily? From his parents' perspective, it certainly looked like he did since he hadn't told them what happened when he was in the coma.

But even if you count the time he had spent with Ddraig inside his mindscape is it really fine for him to abandon his heritage and his parents' teachings? He was a dragon for a year, but he had been human for 17 years even if he doesn't remember much of it.

Then again, according to the Welsh Dragon, as the possessor of the Boosted Gear, he was always a dragon. After Raynare killed him he was resurrected as a devil, but he was still a dragon by their standards. So was he ever truly human?

He was raised as one and he thought he was human, that's for sure. Maybe that was important. Not the biology and his species, but how he was raised.

"No, I didn't abandon my humanity. I accepted that I'm not human."

"That's good to hear. So why don't you pretend to be a human for a little while and eat breakfast with us like a normal teenager?"

"Sure, why not." Issei laughed.

* * *

Shopping. Trivial activity: make a list of things you want, go to the shop or shops that sell them, buy 'em and go home. Or maybe while you are at this you go to the GeekCenter to see if there is something you want to waste your money on or grab something to eat.

At least that was what Issei thought. Rias, apparently, had a different idea.

They were currently in the seventh clothing store and she was once again she was trying on whatever caught her eye. If she had a shopping list, which Issei doubt, it was constantly growing; every dress needed shoes, shoes needed a matching purse, and purse needed accessories.

Issei couldn't understand why she was buying even half of this stuff since he has seen her almost exclusively in the Kuoh Uniform. Even now she was wearing it. The only exceptions he could think of were their morning training sessions and the engagement party. And the last night in the Gremory's mansion before the Rating Game with Riser when she was wearing neglige if you really want to be exact.

Maybe it was just devil's greed showing up and the satisfaction came from having and not using those clothes. Not that he was in a position to judge with all Gundam models and various collectible figurines he keeps in the attic.

It was also possible that Rias simply likes buying things. She dragged him into the department store specialized in designer clothing from leading fashion houses where she saw some red t-shirt she thought he would like and offered to buy him anything or everything from the store.

Issei appreciated the gesture but found it unnecessary, he already had all and more clothes he needed. He creates his clothes during the transformation into human form, they are durable, dirt resistant, he doesn't really sweat so he doesn't need to wash them, and if somehow something happens to them he can just recreate them. Also, he still had training clothes that Tiamat gave him and he even had Kuoh Academy Uniform because he was obliged to wear it. What more could he need?

Apparently a whole new wardrobe. He was now an owner of a few t-shirts and shirts, two hoodies and two jackets, few pairs of jeans, suit, tuxedo, and even a tailcoat. And the worst part? Rias either didn't know or didn't care how important colors are for dragons and she insisted to buy classic black tuxedo with a white shirt. The rest was fine even if not everything was red, he could live with it. But the idea of wearing something white was troubling him. However, when he brought that up Rias just laughed and called him childish.

He wasn't childish! Okay, maybe a little with his aversion to white, but there was a reason for it. Dragons are honest creatures in nature, even if not as much as angels, and they despise lying and deception. At least most of them and as long as they can't gain something from it; dragon's treasure is most important and overrides any rules or traditions. Since scales' color is part of dragon identity it shows in their human form in their hair and clothes, so wearing something in different color means going against their nature or hiding their identity.

He really should talk with Rias later and explain more about dragon nature, but for now, it was fine. She was happy and so he was happy.

At least he thought like that, but there was a small problem.

He wasn't happy. He was bored, but that was the price he had to pay to make his Buchou happy so he could ignore it. He was hungry, but he was almost always hungry so he's learned how to live with it. He was annoyed with other people constantly watching them and talking about them, but he had to agree that two red-haired tall western-looking teenagers stood out from the crowd and it wasn't that big deal. The real issue was that he was nervous. No, he had been nervous in the fourth shop, now he was plain scared. Why? That's a good question and the one he had no answer for.

It started when they reached the mall, but he didn't give it too much thought as he assumed it was just his instincts going haywire due to his senses experiencing over-stimulation from the crowded shopping center. However, if that was the case then with time he'd get used to it and calmed down and yet he was getting more and more scared.

The spirit sealed in his Sacred Gear wasn't helpful, Ddraig just said that he's perceiving this situation as a threat to his life. Which didn't make sense at all! He was a dragon, who survived the fight against the Strongest Dragon King (it counts, even if she wasn't serious and presumably tried not to kill him), surrounded by normal humans. There wasn't anything dangerous to him here. Hell, he'd probably survived if the whole building collapsed on him.

Welsh Dragon countered it by saying that he wasn't always that strong, quite the opposite in fact, as he used to be rather weak, and the warning came from something he experienced earlier.

What was it Issei had no idea. Shopping trips with his parents were one of his best memories, he didn't remember anything bad to ever happen to him or his parents on them. But his instincts were subconscious, so the fact that he didn't remember meant nothing if it was buried somewhere deep in his mind.

Actually no, it meant problems. The only way to silence his instincts is to prove beyond doubt that they are wrong and his life is not in danger. Good news is that he wasn't dealing with some irrational phobia but with a warning based on previous experience, however, it still may be hard to convince his subconscious. And if he didn't know why he was scared? It was almost impossible.

"Ise, what do you think about this one?" Rias walked out of the changing room wearing a white summer dress with some red flowers. If he had to guess he'd say poppies.

It seemed Rias took his complaints as a challenge and was trying to prove that white clothes were fine, which was both unnecessary as he didn't have a problem with other people wearing white things, and doomed to fail as he didn't care how others looked in them.

"You look beautiful, Buchou." he responded with a bright smile.

"Mou, Ise, you said it about every dress I picked."

"Hey, it's not my fault you look beautiful in everything."

"You were supposed to help me chose not encourage me to buy everything." Rias whined as she walked back to the dressing room. She seemed to be simultaneously delighted and annoyed with his answer.

Women. He'll never understand them.

"Such a nice young man." Issei overheard cashier talking with her friend.

"Indeed he is. He reminds me of my husband when we were younger and he took me on dates, now the closest thing to a date I get is takeout for dinner."

Even the smallest biological processes in Issei's body stopped turning him into a statue when his brain processed the words said. It all made sense now.

He wasn't afraid of shopping or the shopping center itself; he was scared because last time he was here he was with his murderer and he died hours later. At least as far as reasons for being scared goes that wasn't that bad. Of course, he didn't think even for a second that Buchou will kill him, because if that was her plan then she wouldn't resurrect him in the first place, but the situation was similar enough for his body to raise alarm.

In a way, that was good news. Since he wasn't in danger all he had to do was prove it to his subconscious, probably just by repeating it few times until it accepts that all is fine and he's good.

 **'I wouldn't celebrate so soon if I were you, Partner.'**

'What do you mean, Ddraig?'

 **'I'm not sure if it's the place that's scaring you. It's possible that you are afraid because you find those situations similar or it may be part of something bigger.'**

'Ddraig. Please don't tell me that you are insinuating that I am afraid of dating.'

 **'Fine, I won't.'**

After a few moments of silence, Issei realized that Ddraig took his request literally.

'Are you serious right now? You know what? Forget it... Why do you even think that? It doesn't make any sense! Yesterday I was ready to claim Buchou as my own without any care for her opinion and it wasn't even the first time when I almost let my dick control me.'

 **'Your desire for physical contact is a completely different matter than your fear of getting emotionally close to someone.'**

'What?'

 **'Listen, my son," Ddraig voice lost its usual smugness and became gentle "you are not afraid of women, however, you have deep trust issues. In your whole life you've been close with only two people, and they both betrayed you, at least in your opinion.** '

"Again, what? I don't remember being betrayed by anyone but that damn fallen."

 **'Your childhood friend-'**

"Rin? He never betrayed me, he just moved with his family to England."

 **'Leaving you alone and lonely. What do you think it was for a seven years old child?'**

"Fine, let's say that I felt betrayed back then. What does it have to do with anything?"

 **'Rin was the only person outside your family you were ever close with. After they moved to England you've never opened up to anyone else until you had met your murderer. I'm not saying that Rin did anything wrong, you had understood it later too, but you've never got over it. When you finally met someone who wanted to be your friend, excuse me, girlfriend you opened up your heart only to had it pierced by a light spear in return. After that, you've locked yourself even more and you built walls to keep away others.'**

'I'm not building walls to keep others away. I always wanted friends, why would I do it?'

 **'Because you are afraid that they will leave you or stab you in the back when you are vulnerable. But keep in mind we're talking about your emotions right now; you'd place your life in your friends' hands, you'd fight for them, you'd bleed for them, but you won't get close to them because it won't hurt that much when they leave you. And I am not talking about you making friends.'**

'This... This is bullshit. I am NOT keeping others away.'

 **'You don't? What about that nun you had risked your life to save her?'**

'I'm her friend. She had always wanted a friend, I can't ruin it by forcing myself on her.'

 **'And what about that raven-haired nephilim?'**

"Akeno-san? She's my senpai and [Queen], not to mention the second most popular girl in the school. She likes teasing me, but it doesn't mean I should pursue a relationship with her."

 **'The cat?'**

'Koneko-chan hates me and for a damn good reason, what do you expect me to do?'

 **'Fine, then what about Eirwen?'**

'I was in Hell to train so I wouldn't die and not to find a girlfriend.'

 **'And there you have it, your walls. Whenever you have an opportunity to pursue a relationship with someone you find a reason why you shouldn't and back off.'**

'Ddraig... Just what are you trying to tell me?'

 **'That right now you are scared because you see the similarities with the day you were murdered, but it's just an extreme case of your everyday fear of getting close to someone.'**

'... ... ... Fuck... Me... Sideways... I need a good therapist...'

 **'I may know a guy. Maybe he doesn't have qualifications, but he has a lot experience, his hours are very flexible and he's just one thought away.'**

'Thanks, Ddraig, I appreciate the offer, but seeing your relationship with Tia I think I'll pass.'

 **'Foolish hatching. You've met us after I had fucked up and got sealed ruining our relationship, but you have no idea how things were when we were younger and I was free. Besides, I have more experience with human relationships than you thanks to being stuck in this gauntlet.'**

"Ise, are you there?" Rias voice broke through his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, right... I was just talking with Ddraig, but that can wait, I am all yours."

Their shopping trip continued without problems. Issei was still unnerved, but knowing why exactly he's afraid of, made it easier to pacify his instincts.

After the eleventh shop Rias run out of shops or desire to go to the next one, Issei wasn't sure which one, but it didn't matter: now it was time to quickly buy what he came here for and get something to eat.

He was lucky to find contact lenses with almost the same color that his eyes used to be, so hopefully, people won't notice anything, and he bought an entire box of them. Better safe than sorry and he had a feeling that he'll forget to remove his contacts before transformation and they will burn.

He didn't buy a cell phone because when he mentioned that he needed one Rias walked into a nearby electronics shop and got him latest high-end smartphone. She said that he was the only member of her peerage who didn't get one since he already owned a phone, and that it was a perfect opportunity to make things even. He'd argue with that logic, partially because he knew that his living situation is different than other members', and partially because he didn't need anyone to get him one as he could easily do it himself, however, they were too close to food court for him to care about anything other than what he'll eat. So he quickly voiced his thanks and walked toward his promised land.

 **~o0o~**

And so, the hunt began.

Young dragon moved swiftly through the jungle made of chairs and tables. His mind was focused on one goal, one target and he needed a good spot to prepare an ambush.

It didn't take long for him to find a perfect place for his plan and it took even less to claim it as his. He got comfortable as he didn't know how long he'll wait for his meal to come by.

His eyes were glued to his target. He watched it move toward him in slow-motion waiting for an opportunity to strike.

It was getting closer and closer. Any moment now it'll be just in range, just a few more seconds, just a few more steps. It was almost here, he was ready, there was nothing that could stop him now.

He took a deep breath. There was no place for mistakes. It's here. Now, it's time to strike!

"Hello, I'd like to order a large pepperoni pizza with double cheese and two large sodas. Buchou? Do you want something?"

"Just water for me, thank you."

"One large pepperoni, two large sodas and a glass of water, coming right up."

The beast in disguise ate his meal in quick yet civilized manner. Unfortunately, a piece of it was robbed from him by his companion, but it was just a minor inconvenience; he doubted that this little piece would've made any difference and satisfied his hunger.

His body craved for meat. Thankfully, he knew the perfect place where he can find it.

Ten minutes later he left Steakhouse unsatisfied. They couldn't sell him a raw steak and even blue rare turned out to be too cooked for his likening. Next time he'll find some Tatar instead.

Unbothered by this little failure the dragon went to the only place he knew it sells what he was looking for: a sushi bar. He devoured about half of the menu accompanied by Rias' growing amazement and worry.

"Ise, are you sure it's safe for you to eat that much? I know you are a dragon, but..."

"Not only it's safe, it's recommended. I'm a young fast growing dragon. Usually, Large Western Dragon grow at least half a meter a year until they turn 25, so by that logic I should be over 8 meters tall and I'm only 5. It means that in next eight years I'll grow over seven meters, and if Ddraig's prediction about my size is correct, I'll grow at least fifteen meters, which is triple my current height. Even if my circumstances are different and I'll be growing longer because I wasn't born as a dragon, there're still a lot of bones, muscles, and scales to grow, and they have to be made from something. Besides, I won't eat like that every day, it's just I didn't eat enough yesterday and I don't want to chain my mother to the cooker so I want to eat a little more now when I have a chance."

"Ise..." Rias sighed "You do realize you can order food to your house, right?"

"Never in my life we had dinner that wasn't made by my mother and I think it would break her heart if I order something now, no matter what my reasons are. On the other hand, I do eat raw meat now so maybe I could get away with it... Speaking of which, we should head home, it's almost time for dinner!" Issei exclaimed excitedly causing Rias to sweatdrop.

In a flash of inspiration on the way out Issei stopped by a bakery and bought two cheesecakes (chocolate and a classic one) for a dessert, which Rias teleported to the house so he didn't get any weird ideas. Probably a wise choice.

* * *

 **AN**

I have no excuse for being so late. Well, I do, it's just a lame one: I forgot how to write. Really! I knew what I wanted to write, but when I opened editor no words showed up in my head or I write something only to delete it later because it seemed wrong... Is it what they call writer's block? Anyway, I think I've got over it, but just in case I didn't I'm not going to make any promises about next chapter. Sorry :(

So, to recap this chapter. I wasted your time with: Issei is moving out, a repeat of canon DodgeBall tournament, resolving Rias' situation with Issei's parents that I unnecessarily created in the first place, Issei is a pet bit, shopping trip and documentary about Issei eating. And yet, somehow, I am really happy with how much important stuff I manage to put in this. I hope that you agree with me.

I'd love to promise you more action in the next chapter, but... I still have to deal with Issei going back to school and I'm planning to address his thoughts about his relationship with Rias there, club meeting in his house because it's important for the story, him finally moving out, and meeting with the Student Council. Not too many explosions in those events.

A new season of the anime! YEY! But not really... While I don't hate the anime as much as some of the members of that site (Hi, Nosferatu, how are you?) because I had watched it before reading LN, so I was like "LN are sooo much better" rather than "OMG, anime ruined it", I just don't have a reason to be exited. The plot? I know what will happen from LN. Opportunity to see more b̶o̶o̶b̶s̶ ̶amazing fights? New studio, new style. I just don't want to get hyped only to be disappointed later. Now, I invoke my right to remain silent until I watched the actual episode, it's different but maybe I'll like it, I'll comment it later. Maybe.

'Till the next time.


	15. Back to the Academy

On Monday morning Issei reached Kuoh Academy almost late and alone because of a small miscommunication.

He left early in the morning for a short jog, which might or might not have turned into a trip to the forest outside Kuoh to fly a little in his chibi form, and he lost track of time. Before he returned home Asia and Rias had left for school apparently angry at him for leaving without them.

But he didn't! He went out for a short while with the intention to come back before breakfast. And it's not his fault his dragon form doesn't have a pocket for a phone. Maybe he could buy some watch he could wear in his chibi form, although he doubted they make so tiny watches, but maybe some pocket watch he'd wear as a necklace...

Anyway, he could've run after them, but the house had food and he didn't see the point in making his return to school more annoying by going there on an empty stomach. The girls will surely understand.

He walked through the gate into the empty schoolyard, which wasn't surprising considering that the lessons were about to start, but it meant that he should hurry up if he didn't want to be late on the first day of his return.

During the walk to the building, he checked again if the enchantment on his training clothes was working correctly. Those clothes were created with the intention to push him to his limits and put as much strain on his body as possible when he trained, but with the way they were doing it, they should be perfect for keeping his strength in check.

The idea that he had to wear them bugged him. It made him feel like he was some mindless, savage beats that can't be trusted to be around humans without supervision, but it was his idea, so he didn't have anyone to complain about. He wasn't afraid that he'll snap, go berserk and attack anyone. If that was the case he'd never come here and he doubted that the clothes would make any difference in this situation.

As bizarre as it sounds, he was afraid of the opposite. He was afraid that he'll relax and forget how strong he is compared to his classmates. He was afraid that someone will surprise him and his reaction will have fatal consequences when he moves with his real speed or use some of his real strength unintentionally.

The enchantment should prevent that. His clothes weren't any heavier than regular ones, even if he felt like they were, so there was no risk that he'll destroy a chair in class, or injure someone when he walks into them which from their perspective would feel like they were hit by a small car. Instead, the clothes were using his energy to resist his movement. Because of this even if from his perspective he was using enough strength to punch through the wall, the effect on his surroundings was like he gently tapped it. It should make him look like he was just a normal human teenager. Also useful for sparrings, he could go all in with his power without a worry that he'll injure his opponent.

Issei walked into the school only to find empty halls. That was a little odd, even if the lessons were about to start there were always students present outside the rooms talking with their friends from different classes. Was there some event he wasn't aware of?

"You're almost late, Hyoudou-san."

Ok, the halls were almost empty. Student Council President, Souna Shitori, was standing next to the staircase and it seemed that [if I ignore her she'll ignore me] approach didn't work. He turned to face her with a smile on his face.

"But almost late means that I am on time, so there's no problem, right Kaichou?"

"Please be serious, Hyoudou-san. Your education is important and you've already missed most of the semester without a good reason or even a proper notice."

The dragon groaned inwardly trying to keep the smile present. He had the perfect reason to skip school and if only he could tell her things would be so much easier. Well, he could, it's not like he wasn't allowed to tell anyone, he just didn't want to. Before his trip to Hell, he didn't want anyone to know as he had no idea how long will it last or if it will be successful at all. Now, he didn't see a point in doing so. He was fine and what good would happen if he told them?

"I am serious, Kaichou, I am here, aren't I?"

"You are, but you are almost late on the first day of your return to school, Hyoudou-san. I'm not sure how does it speak about your commitment."

"It doesn't." Issei sighed. "I just forgot how Japanese clock works, I'll be earlier tomorrow."

He was stretching the truth almost beyond the point he was comfortable with. He tried to make it sound like he was suffering from jet lag, but he wasn't and [Japanese] was unnecessary as he literally forgot when was the last time he used any clock. During his stay in the Dragon Mountains, it was time to train or time to sleep, and the difference between them was defined by whether or not he was conscious. When he was in Gremory Mansion he was informed by one of the countless servants they have that it's almost time for something, and in his mindscape, there wasn't a clock to pay attention to, so from his perspective, it was over a year since something in his life was dictated by the hour.

"I don't want empty promises, Hyoudou-san, I heard enough of those whenever you and your friends were in my office. I want you to prove your intention with your actions, those counts, not your words."

'Words means nothing, it actions that count? Huh, I guess she's right. That changes the plan a little...'

"I shouldn't allow your return, you've missed more than half of the term and I believe there's not enough time for you to catch up. " Souna continued. "You're not a straight A student who was rewarded with an internship, you've barely passed last year and yet you thought you're in a position to ignore lessons. However, I will not help you ruin your future and make you repeat a year, because you think the school is not important. But this doesn't mean I will pretend that nothing happened and let you pass without a proof that you deserve it. Even if that means you will be the first student during my term of office to take summer classes or I'll have to personally supervise your work."

Issei swallowed angry growl. He wasn't bothered that she essentially called him an idiot who doesn't deserve to be here, he even partially agreed with it. However, how dare she judge his actions?

The fire inside him exploded to life.

She knew nothing about him or his condition.

His wings were itching to make an appearance.

She knew nothing about why he went to the Underworld.

His pupils changed into slits.

She knew nothing about what hell and torture he went through to make sure he wouldn't die.

His skin hardened, slowly showing scales pattern, and his teeth sharpened turning into fangs.

She knew nothing! And yet she dared to speak like he went on vacations?!

 **The Crimson Inferno was about to awaken.**

Thankfully his rational side regained control before he said or did something he'd regret.

That's exactly the point: she knew nothing. It was his decision to keep his condition secret and use the internship as an excuse.

He got it: education is important, but he was prepared to drop from school or repeat the year if his condition demanded it. It wouldn't matter how good his grades were if he died because of the effects of his deal with the Welsh Dragon.

Now when he was perfectly healthy and there was no threat to his life he wasn't going to ignore the opportunity and wait a year when he could just return. But he will earn it and not beg for it. That means he'll have to swallow his pride and endure her behavior.

"Understood." dragon tried to keep his voice level, but some of the anger sneaked in. "If you don't want my promises then I guess we are done here."

"Indeed we are. I heard and saw enough. You may go to the class for now."

The dragon walked away without saying anything more and Sona watched him for a moment longer before she went toward her class upstairs.

"Rias, do you-"

"Sona!" the redhead shouted interrupting "Do you know what happened?

"I was going to ask you the same. One moment I was talking with your [Pawn] and the next he looked like he was about to attack me."

"He didn't, right? Thanks Maou." Rias sighed in relief "And let me guess, by [talking] you mean you gave him one of your lectures, which is exactly opposite of what I asked you."

"He may have special treatment in your peerage, but it doesn't mean he'll have one in the school"

"Sona." Gremory heiress groaned "I didn't ask you to treat him like some VIP just to give him some time to adjust."

"Adjust?" Sona asked as she pushed her glasses "He's not a dragon you just recruited who has never been in school, he's human who skipped two months of lessons. What kind of adjustment he needs?"

"I know! But it'll be stressful enough for him already, you didn't have to make it worse. I just don't want any trouble and... You know how these humans can be... Take today as an example..." Rias trailed off.

"Rias." Sona warned, "What are you trying to not tell me?"

The redhead fidgeted and averted her eyes before replying.

"He wasn't thrilled to come here. He thinks he doesn't belong here and he's a danger to the students, but-"

"And you let him come here?!" Sona cried out.

"I will not lock him up in the house, Sona." Rias snapped "You know why I can't do something like that. Not again. Besides, I'm sure he's overreacting. Yes, he is strong, but so are we. He just needs some time to get used to it, after all, he's got much stronger in such short time, he didn't have the luxury of learning how to control his power through his whole life like we had. That's why I asked you to go easy on him for few days, I don't want you to give him a free pass, but there's also no need to put even more on his plate."

"But what if you are wrong? You said it yourself, you know how these humans can be. Right know he went into the class where we have no one to keep an eye on him, we won't be able to react in time."

"He's with Asia." Rias replied causing Sona's eyes to widen and open her mouth to argue, but Gremory Heiress continued "She's a Dragon Tamer, her aura helps him calm down. I doubt that his classmates are able to push him so hard and so quickly that we won't be able to react."

"You are clearly isolated in this little club of yours. You haven't heard the rumors, have you?"

Before Rias got a chance to ask what her friend meant by that her whole being was overwhelmed by dread, no, terror.

She could feel her [Pawn's] aura raising on the other side of the school, but she wasn't afraid of it. How could she? Just like she told him; she knows how strong he is, but she also knows that he would never hurt her.

And yet right now she felt like her [fight-or-flight responce] was replaced with [flight-or-flight-faster]. The small voice in the back of her head telling her how small and insignificant she is compared to the might of a dragon she heard when she first saw Issei's dragon form returned as the choir. Every nerve in her body was burning, every instinct was screaming at her that she's in danger.

She knew she should move. She knew she had to help her juniors in Issei's class. But she couldn't. Her body refused her commands and the thought [save yourself, they are already lost] echoed in her mind. Never in her life she felt so helpless.

[This is what prey feels facing the predator. Utter horror and helplessness.]

The words her [Pawn] said to Yubelluna during the Rating Game. If the Bomb Queen experienced something like that then her reaction seemed much more reasonable than before. They are just prey in the eyes of the Red Dragon Emperor, little insects not worthy to even stay in his way...

She was his [King], his master! How could she call herself that if she was that scared of his aura? There's nothing to be afraid of. It's still Issei, her adorable servant, her family, he wouldn't hurt her...

With that thought, Rias was finally able to move towards Issei's classroom. She didn't even reach the staircase before as suddenly as it appeared the aura vanished. The Heiress felt to her knees and she could swear that she was drowning just a moment ago with how desperately her lungs demanded air.

"Ise..." she whispered gently before turning her head to the other Heiress present "Just what kind of rumors am I not aware of?"

* * *

Kiriyuu Aika was sitting in the classroom bored out of her mind. And the day started so promisingly! The chaos caused by the news about Rias-oneesama seen on a date was just magnificent.

Unfortunately, the Student Council and teachers stepped in and ended her fun. While the gossiping continued it wasn't as entertaining with students not running around like headless chickens and she didn't really care about the gossip itself.

Not the gossip in general, just this one. In her opinion student's interest in Gremory's life became obsession long ago. And it wasn't even anything interesting as for all they knew she could be shopping with her brother or cousin. There was absolutely no value in it, maybe if it was someone from Kuoh Academy then she could make something out of it, but as of right now, she couldn't be bothered with it. Sadly, it seemed like she was the only one thinking like that.

Her salvation came in a form of a bundle of blond hairs who walked into the classroom and looked around with a small frown. She had no idea what was the cause behind it, but such expression was extremely unusual for the former nun so it had to be something exceptional.

After Asia denied having any knowledge about Rias supposed boyfriend and came to her seat she almost killed her with the news.

"Issei-san is back"

Now that's interesting. For a moment Aika played with an idea to make it known to the class and convince them he's the mystery man seen with Gremory, but she wasn't sure if she could pull it off. He could've died his hair, but [tall, handsome, western-looking] weren't the words she'd use to describe him, and even if they believed her, it would be over as soon as he walked through the door.

She'd probably do it just for the few laughs if Asia hasn't dropped another bomb. Hyoudou is moving out. She had no clue what the Tannin Foundation is, but she was suddenly very interested in an internship if they pay enough to buy a house after just two months of work.

But that's for later. For now, she had to help this poor little thing decide what she should do with this situation. Or rather, she had to come up with the way of convincing her that she should move with him. It was the perfect opportunity for Asia to secure the heart of that idiot, but she seemed unaware of it, and Aika promised she'd help her do exactly this.

Their talk was interrupted by shocked gasps of students gathered in the class. Aika turned around to see what happened and froze at the sight of the man walking towards her. Tall, handsome, western-looking man with red hair. It had to be the guy who Fumiko saw in the mall with Gramory. But why he was smiling at her?

No. He wasn't smiling at her, he was smiling at the girl next to her. She turned her head only to see Asia with her trademark [Issei-san smile]. Her head snapped to the boy and back to Asia repeatedly, her pigtail slashing the air with each move. No... that can't be him...

But that was the only possibility. Otherwise, it would mean that Asia met this guy earlier, developed the same crush on him as she has on Issei, he transferred to Kuoh Academy a month before summer vacations, and no one, especially not her, knew about this. Which was still more likely than this man being Hyoudou... But Asia just told her that he's back. What are the chances that such guy enrolled on the same day Hyoudou returned?

It's just... he looks so different. The eyes check out, he has the same haircut even if the color is different, but that's pretty much it. His face looks like... like someone took Hyoudou's and tried to make it western. Could it be?

"You shouldn't shake your head so strongly, Kiryuu-san, you may get a whiplash." the boy chuckled.

"HYOUDOU!?" Aika screamed as she jumped from her seat.

And so, the chaos was back.

"That's Hyoudou?!"

"The Perverted Beast is back!"

"When did he get so hot?"

"How dare he die his hair to match Rias-oneesama's"

"Was he always so tall?"

"Oh no! The trio is complete again!"

"Die, traitor! You were supposed to be a loser like us!"

"Yeah, Issei, how dare you came back looking like this?"

Issei ignored the comments, although Aika noticed how his eye twitched and his smile lost its brightness.

"I hear you helped Asia accommodate to the school life, Kiryuu-san, you have my thanks." he ended with a small bow.

"Order, class, you heard Shitori-san, I am to report any student who's not in their seat and I don't want to be bothered with it. I know you have questions, but you have to keep it civil. Hyoudou-kun, would you mind answering them?"

"Not at all, Sensei." Issei moved back to the middle of the class.

"You have 5 questions before we start class, make them count." the teacher announced as he got comfortable on the chair.

The dragon stood in front of everyone awaiting the bullshit to come, but for several seconds the class was silent. He looked around to see what the problem is and noticed that most of the students were still stunned after learning it's him, some seemed like they wanted to ask something but were too afraid to speak first, and few looked like they didn't care busy with their own stuff.

"Were you on a date with Gremory-senpai on Saturday?" Aika shot the first question which, judging by the sudden tension in the room, was what majority was interested in.

"No."

"So you deny that it was you who Fumiko-san saw with Rias-oneesama in the mall?" Murayama inquired.

"No."

Seeing as she was about to speak again Issei raised his hand to stop her.

"Before you waste your third question, yes, I was with Buchou in the mall, no it wasn't a date."

"So what? You fell into the friend zone?" Kiryuu asked with a grin.

"This is-" Not true? He's not her friend, he's her servant. Arguably better or worse, it depends on your perspective.

Even if the relationship he had with Buchou was something for what many if not all males from Kuoh Academy would sacrifice their arm, there's a catch. If Buchou friend zoned him, he could hope to escape it and have a real relationship with her. That wasn't the case here.

Rias Gremory. Academy's number one idol, also known as one of the "Two Great Ladies". The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess, the heiress to one of the highest ranking and famous Devil families, the Gremory Family, Lucifer's little sister. The high-class pure-blooded devil, his [King] and master.

He? Academy's number one loser, also known as one of the "Perverted Trio". The Perverted Beast, the heir to nothing. A low-class reincarnated devil, her [Pawn] and servant. Who was he to even dream about her?

Red Dragon Emperor? This title lost its meaning when Ddraig got sealed. And truth be told, it wasn't even his title; he was the host of the Red Dragon Emperor, over the years it got shorten as the host tried to claim the title as their own and the dragons inside the Gears accepted that as it let them continue their fight.

Dragon Prince? Dragons don't have royalty. They have two Gods, two Emperors, and six Kings. The titles were given to them millennia ago as a show of respect. There's no Empress, Queen, and definitely no Prince or Princess. And even if there was such title, was he one? Tia recognized him as her son, but it was so complicated and uncanny that he wasn't sure what the rest of the world would say. He wasn't even sure if every dragon recognized him as such.

He still was a dragon. Which meant nothing in devils' society. No matter how much they respected power and strength, their rankings and social constructs were more important for them.

He was... nobody. He was someone Bouchou liked to have around, someone she liked to spend time with, but nothing more. He was her family as she claimed her servants to be, but there are people saying their pets are family members. So he could be as well just that, a pet.

 **'Walls.'** Ddraig chimed in.

'There's a difference between building walls and accepting reality, Ddraig.'

 **'Why do I even bother?'** Ddraig groaned and cut the mental connection.

"Hyoudou?" Kiryuu's voice broke his trance.

"Just Issei is fine, Kiryuu-san, you are Asia's friend, there's no need for such formality. And I guess you're right." it spoke volumes how miserable he looked when the most hated man in Kuoh Academy received the pity looks from his classmates.

"Oi, traitor, where have you been past two months?" Matsuda screamed.

"Yeah, and how dare you come back looking hot like a damn Prince Charming?" Motohama followed his friend causing Issei to sweatdrop. He knew what he meant, but it rubbed him the wrong way.

"I had an internship in Tannin Foundation and it's not my fault that puberty was nice to me." he tried to shrug it off, but-

"BULLSHIT!" at least half of the class called his bluff.

"There's no amount of puberty that could change potato like you into this."

Issei sighed but otherwise ignored his friend's insult.

"You expect me to believe that, pervert?" Katase asked angrily.

"I don't expect you to do anything, Katase-san, I'm just telling the truth." he sighed again and glanced at the teacher looking for help. Technically they've asked 5 question already and he would really appreciate if the class started, but it seemed like the teacher was napping ignoring the students.

"The truth? We know the truth. We know that your parents had enough of your perversion and sent you to the boot camp."

"What?! Why would-" the words stuck in his throat as the realization came to him. He slowly turned to face other members of the Perverted Trio "Guys..."

"Don't look at us, we said nothing about the boot camp."

"Yeah, we only spread rumors about you forcing Gremory-senpai and Asia to do evil, sexual acts against their will and-"

"You said what?!"

This time there was no warning nor build up; the flames making his body exploded in fury and his vision narrowed in rage. He could see only his so-called friend.

'How dare they...'

 **'Partner...'**

'They shall suffer for what they did.'

 **'Partner!'**

'They will beg for mercy until their throats give up. Only then will I grace them with the blessing of fire!'

 **'Hatchling! Remember where you are! You are scarring these humans!'**

True to Ddraig's words students looked more or less frightened depending on how sensitive they were to auras; thankfully it seemed his energy was too unfocused in rage to visibly turn him into a dragon or they would've run away in a panic already, but they were still nervously looking around not understanding what is happening.

The confused yet scared look on their faces was way too similar for Issei. They looked almost like all the children he tried to interact when he was younger

'I'm a monster'

Tense and defensive postures.

'I'm a monster'

Frightened eyes unwilling to look at him and yet constantly drawn to him.'Imamonster'

The Crimson Inferno's rage was extinguished by the flood of sadness and self-loathing.

'Imamonsteriamonsterimamonter'

Students, who already were confused by the events in the class, watched in shock as Hyoudou suddenly turned and run out of the classroom. They couldn't understand what happened earlier or where that ominous feeling came from, and Issei's reaction only made it worse.

"Issei-san!" Asia shouted as she ran after the dragon.

"You know, I didn't expect a warm welcome, Yui," Kiryuu was first to break the silence after the nun left the room "but I thought you are smarter than this."

"What that's supposed to mean?!" Katase shot back.

"Exactly what I said. Just how much must you hate him to believe such preposterous rumors spread by jealous perverts..." Aika shook her head.

"Rumors? How do you know it's not true?"

"Other than the fact baldy literally just said so?" Aika deadpanned "I asked. Asia denied that Hyoudou made any moves on her, in fact, she complained that he treats her like his sister. He made no moves on her, believe me, I'd knew."

"And the rest?" Katase seemed to be desperate to find an excuse for her behavior.

"Again, baldy just admitted that they had spread those rumors."

The pink haired girl turned to the resident perverts instinctively reaching for her sword, which, thankfully for the boys, she didn't have with her.

"Is it true?"

 ***RING***

As soon as the bell rang the teacher opened his eyes and began his class as if he wasn't just napping seconds ago. He was in the middle of his third sentence before he realized something is not right.

"Murayama-san, are you all right? You look very pale."

"I'm... I'm fine, Sensei, I'm just a little dizzy."

"Nonsense, you look like you've seen a ghost. Katase-san, please take her to the nurse. And where are Hyoudou-kun and Argento-san?"

"They were called to the club room" Aika answered before anyone else could've said anything actually related to the true events.

"Of course they were... As I was saying-" the teacher returned to his lecture without any care.

* * *

"Rias!" Sona snapped at her friend "This can wait! We have a powerful and clearly unstable supernatural being loose in the school filled with unaware humans! Get your priorities straight!"

"I'm sure Ise would never harm them-"

"Just like you were sure humans here are not able to push him so hard and so quickly that we won't be able to react?"

Rias had no response to this. She wanted to trust Ise but his aura left no doubt that he's not thinking straight at the moment.

'What if the aura disappeared because they are already dead? What if Ise calmed down because he claimed his revenge?'

She didn't want to think about this. There's no way...

But what if...?

She ran towards Ise's classroom not bothering to answer Sona's question. Sitri heiress was right, this can wait.

Gremory heiress stopped in her track when she noticed her [Bishop] walking towards the entrance in the hall downstairs.

Good news, she wasn't running in panic.

Bad news, she was alone. Whatever happened wasn't good.

"Buchou! Have you seen Issei-san?" the former nun screamed.

"No. What happened?" Rias asked echoed by Sona from behind her.

"Issei-san was answering the questions about his absence in the class and he looked a little angered by something and-"

"A little angered? Are you trying to tell me this aura was him being a little angry?" Sona voiced her disbelieve.

"Asia is not affected by Ise's aura. Dragon Tamer, remember?" Rias waved off her friend "What happened later?"

"He ran out off the classroom. I ran after him, but he was gone."

"You see, Sona? I told you, Ise wouldn't hurt them." Rias turned to her friend ignoring how she accepted such possibility. "Now, what kind of rumors am I not aware of?"

Sona pinched her nose tired of redhead's behavior. Usually, Rias was reasonable, calm, poise, or whatever another adjective you'd use describe [the perfect princess], but when it comes to her family, she's all emotions. And it would seem that her [Pawn] quickly climbed the ranks of people she cared for.

"Don't you think it would be better if we searched for your [Pawn] first?"

"No. I have to-"

"Buchou, Koneko had a panic attack. She's in nurse's room." Kiba reported to his [King] appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

Rias paled. Koneko's powers had awakened because of Issei aura in dragon form, the one she easily ignored. She had no idea how bad could it be now when she barely handled it.

"Is she all right?" she asked turning to her [Knight].

"She's... It's bad. Koneko clammed up and doesn't respond to anything. The nurse gave her something that's supposed to calm her down."

"Thank you, Yuto."

Rias took a deep breath. Kiba was first to come, but other members of her and Sona's peerages were coming to them. She can't waste the time arguing, right now, there were more important matters to take care of.

"Here's the plan. Sona, you and your peerage take care of the school. Check if the students are all right and think how we can cover this. If you see Ise do not approach, he doesn't know you and he may react negatively. Akeno, Asia, search the school and the schoolyard. Yuto, check the clubroom and help Akeno and Asia. I'll go to see Koneko and call Issei's mother, maybe he went to the home. Sounds good?"

"I don't get it, what's the big deal? Why is everyone acting crazy because Hyoudou is back?" Saji asked looking around.

"Saji, I don't understand how it's possible you didn't feel this monstrous aura, but please wait with your question until we've dealt with this situation. Everyone, you've heard Rias, get to work." Sona announced.

"Yes, Kaichou/Buchou!" both peerages' members responded and walked away to take care of their task.

"Sona." Rias stopped her friend from going with the rest of the devils. "Please, I have to know. I'm dealing with an angry, if not furious dragon. I can't walk in blind and hope for the best."

"Hyoudou is not a..."

Dragon.

The word got stuck in Sona's throat when she realized how much truth there was to it.

It's common knowledge that Sacred Gears influence their holders. Hyoudou has one of the most powerful Gears in existence, one holding the spirit of one of the most powerful dragons to ever be, so it was logical assumption that the influence was bigger.

When she stopped thinking about him as a human reincarnated devil with dragon type Sacred Gear and started thinking about him as a dragon, it all made sense.

Honest and open nature. Probably too open with his perversion and desires. Impulsive and driven by emotion. Hard to tame, but extremely loyal if you've earned it. Focused on his goal and uncaring to people opinions. It matches him perfectly, and that was before he fully unlocked the Boosted Gear and made the deal with Welsh Dragon.

His new appearance he claimed to be effects of puberty? [Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction]. If you ignore the last part of the definition, his change due to the increased influence of his Gear matched it.

His aura? Maybe Tsubaki hadn't seen Welsh Dragon but Hyoudou's true aura, and that ever-changing aura she sensed was just an effect of a spell trying to hide it or negate its effect on people around him.

Hyoudou is a dragon. Even if he doesn't have a body of one.

But this revelation didn't change their situation.

"Nevermind." Sona stopped for a moment preparing for what was about to come. "It all started with-" she explained what rumors and theories Gremory heiress evidently missed during past two months.

"They. Said. **WHAT?** " Rias shouted with demonic energy powering her voice. Red and black aura of destruction was pouring from her body as she was trembling from rage.

'Goodbye Perfect Princess Rias, hello again Overreacting Ria.' Sona sighed inwardly.

* * *

On Kuoh's Monday morning Sirzechs Lucifer was enjoying the tea that... no calling this [tea] would be an insult to an ambrosia of a drink his wife made him.

He was enjoying tea-like substance he made for himself taking in every moment of his well-deserved break in Devil King work (don't ask Grayfia, she would argue). You can take a break before you start working, right?

Today was almost too perfect. Mathers was busy so Grayfia couldn't take away his free time by ordering his [Bishop] to take care of renovation as he was the only one besides Lucifer who could do it.

Removing the wall? Easy. Turning the old classroom next to the clubroom into dragon's lair? They live in caves, he'd remove chairs and tables place a mat on the floor and it's beyond perfect. Installing new wall that can slide down? For humans it may be hard, but for him it was nothing. That leaves only the barrier.

Ah, the barrier. His greatest achievement. He's spent years perfecting it with the help of the greatest living magician to ensure his little Ria-tan's safety. He, the Embodiment of Destruction, the Strongest Devil alive wasn't able to destroy it. If it had a power source it would probably withstand the end of the world.

The only so-called problem with the barrier was that it required about two hours to disarm and another two the be erected again. Which meant he had four hours to relax and he'll see Ria-tan! How's that a problem?

She had lessons. That was a bummer, but she'll come here for a break so it's something. And because Grayfia stayed in Lucifiad claiming that someone should supervise his stuff work, she won't be able to stop him from convincing Ria-tan to skip a class or two.

This sounded like a good plan. For now, enjoy the peaceful and quiet break, quickly deal with the renovation, and spend the rest of the morning with Ria-tan.

Unfortunately, his plan failed at the first step. The door slammed open as the red-haired boy run into the clubroom.

"Issei-kun?" Sirzechs tried to gain his attention.

Ruby-red aura covered boy's body as he transformed into the small dragon. Little creature jumped out from the fallen cloaths and crawled under the couch.

"What just happened?" Lucifer voiced his confusion still holding the cup halfway to his mouths, but was met with silence.

"Issi-kun." this time Devil King's voice was slightly harsher.

 **"It's pointless, Fake-Lucifer."** Ddraig's voice boomed in the clubroom, **"He's not reacting to anything, he didn't even acknowledge my words. Not that I had much to say, to be honest."**

"Welsh Dragon, a pleasure. Would you be so kind and explained what happened?"

 **"Not much, my hatchling got angry, released some of his aura scarring the humans and now he's hiding under the couch..."** Ddraig sighed.

"And you didn't have much to say about scarring beings around you? This doesn't sound right. From the legends I've heard, entire armies or even gods ran from you." Sirzechs said with a smirk on his face.

 **"Yeah, they did..."** Ddraig responded with a dreamy voice **"but the thing is, I enjoyed every moment of it. He clearly doesn't."**

"I see... Maybe I can help. After the Civil War devils were afraid of my power and how I would punish those who supported Old Satans. It's not exactly the same, but maybe-" he stopped when the door opened again.

"Lucifer-sama." Kiba greeted the Devil King.

"Good morning, Yuto. Yes, Issei-kun is here, tell Ria-tan I'll handle this. He'll meet her at home later."

"Of course, Lucifer-sama." Kiba bowed and left the room.

Sirzechs watched the door for a moment and sighed to himself. There goes his quality time with his little sister. But the dragon needs help.

Or maybe it was more about how miserable Dragon Price will cause Devil Princess to be miserable and he wouldn't want that.

"Well then, how can we get him to pay attention to us?" Lucifer asked turning to the couch.

 **"Simple. Make _him_ afraid."** Ddraig snorted. **"His instincts will kick off when he feels threthen and it should pull him off this trance."**

Sirzechs pondered about this for a moment before he shrugged and moved to the side of the room. He took a deep breath and released a relatively small amount of his power.

The effects were immediate. Ruby-red aura exploded under the couch sending it into the air and he was suddenly standing in front of a large Western Dragon growling angrily into his face.

A few seconds later, the beast blinked several times and its body was once again covered in the ruby-red aura.

"L-lucifer-sama" Issei, in his human form, stuttered. "I... I apologize-"

"Good morning Issei-kun." Lucifer interrupted him with a smile "Would you like some tea... tea-like drink I've prepared?"

"I... Yes please."

Devil King poured a cup for the boy, gestured him to sit in front of the desk, and he sat on Rias' chair.

"We need to talk." He told the boy in serious tone looking him right into the eyes.

* * *

 **AN**

It's been ages, I know... I was stuck with his return and when I finally figured out what I was doing wrong (I focused on the rumors, not his reaction to scarring his classmates) I didn't have too much time or energy to write. And then shit happened...

~o0o~

The rant. (people seemed to enjoy it so I put it at the end of AN)

Don't worry, I am not going to stop writing this story because of one or two negative reviews. I get it, not everyone has to like it, there are stories I didn't like so it's only fair, right?

That review triggered me and I had to vent. But it doesn't mean you can't say negative stuff. I did something wrong, made a mistake? Something doesn't make sense or require more explanation? You want to say my writing sucks? Please do, just don't write "haha, what an idiot, why did you bother with writing this when you could've just made an OC"...

~o0o~

In loving memory of my father, who laughed at my interest in the series, but still supported me in writing this story.

Rest in peace, Dad.

~o0o~  
The copy of rant.

OK, I know I shouldn't do it, but this two quest's reviews are bugging me too much, I'm disappointed and angry so I had to address them. I'll remove this later.

Ren chapter 10

Would be much more epic if Great red, Ddraig and Tiamat would rebirth Ise, this is just stupid and boring. Ise should have the body of a FUCKING DRAGON GOD! But its an Ok Story.

Ok, this one isn't that bad but it was misfortuned to be next to the second one so I'm gonna answer it. IN WHAT WORLD YOU NEED MORE THAN TWO PEOPLE/DRAGONS TO HAVE A CHILD/HATCHLING?! I'm already pushing it with his rebirth so early and I promoted Tiamat to the TOP10 Strongest list (I think, I've seen too many different ones to care which one is correct) and he's a fucking dragon. He is TRUE DRAGON WITH A BODY OF ONE DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHICH DRAGON HE GOT IT FROM? Even in canon after he was reborn using Great Red flesh he had only human form. Are you not entertained? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? Do you really need Issei to be stupidly OP or have an epic heritage to enjoy the story? Ok, I'm ranting too much, sorry.

Ise chapter 1

Why not just make him a BIRTH Half Dragon ? Like Apophis or Crom or hell Great Red or Ophis as his Parent and one Human Parent, would be much better than this over used and BORING Scenario.

Because such character is not called Issei Hyoudou. His first name is Original and last name is Character. Yeah, yeah, I know, I sound like a hypocrite given how my Issei is now basically an OC as well, but I believe I gave you good enough explanation how and why it happened and not just introduced new character to my liking from the beginning.

Also, this is the fucking point of this story! I took Issei as he was in canon, his heritage, backstory, dreams, and powers just like he had them at the time I started writing the first chapter and I am building on that. It's not possible for Issei to be a half-dragon and lived the life he had in canon. He would be either stronger and aware of the supernatural, or his dragon father would have to leave him and his mother and Issei would grow up to be a different person. And I didn't want to take nonperverted Red Dragon Emperor with a Dragon God as a parent and make him join Rias' peerage because plot must go on and stupidly OP character is killed by Raynare because the author wanted it. Almost all that had happened in the Dragon Wings so far is me trying to make Issei what I think he could be if he wasn't an idiot MC of ecchi harem anime, but without just giving him anything I need or want and claim it to be part of his unknown past.

Sure. I know. Introducing Tiamat and making him a dragon is Deus ex machina, but in my opinion is still better than "Issei, I don't know who your father is, it was a one-night thing. BOOM! I'm the fucking Great Red the strongest being in the universe and I'm your father!"... I wasn't even sure IF I'll make him fully dragon, but after I took away his perversion the story seemed empty so I ultimately combined two ideas I had: Issei's path to become a better man (but he stays devil as he was in canon) and "what it would look if Issei was a full dragon" and few scenes I imagined.

Still, I tried to make it reasonable, possible, and convincing. I tried to explain why and how it happened. If you prefer "hey, this is my OC, I named him Issei Hyoudou and he isn't even the Red Dragon Emperor" this is not the story for you. Disclaimer, I'm not making fun of such stories, there are good ones like Holy Inferno Dragon or The God of Destruction and Regrowth, I'm just trying to prove my point.

"over used and BORING Scenario." You know what? I'm up for a challenge. Prove to me that story focused on Issei's character development in which he is reborn as a son of two dragons from the top10 strongest list and he actually is a dragon and not a humanoid dragon without pre-created MC is not that original and such theme is over-used and I will write you 70k words with whatever ideas you have before I'll update this story.

Rules:

\- stories published after mine doesn't count

\- "Dangerous Game", "DxD: A Different Direction" and "A Dragon's New Path" don't count because I admit I was inspired by them (and four stories don't mean "over-used" because they are different IMO). Besides, "ADNP" started later in the timeline and I was disappointed with the direction it went, "ADD" is about Sona more than Rias, and "DG" ended early and I really took a lot of ideas from it.

\- the story must be fairly long, well-written and popular

There, I'm done. Sorry, I just had to get it off my chest. (wow, I really wrote almost 1k words just to complain about two reviews... If only I could write chapters at this speed)

* * *

'till the next time


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